AI is all the rage; you cannot open any industry publication without reading about how AI is going to dramatically change financial services.  As with many new technologies, there is a bit of hype in AI: specifically, many of those touting their AI prowess do not actually have any significant AI powered service.  Yet, if bankers think that AI is just a bunch of smoke and will likely be a passing fad, I believe they will be sadly mistaken.

My interest in AI for 2024 is very specific. I am looking at how Generative AI (think ChatGPT et al…) can be used to enhance the customer experience for financial services.  In order to see exactly how this would work, I have chosen to focus on online and mobile chat services as the target. Can a Generative AI solution really make the experience of chat for a customer better?

Most banks now have some type of chat option. It could be available for online banking, mobile banking or both. The chat offered is one of two chat options: 1) A Chatbot or 2) Live Chat.  They each have their pros and cons.  A chatbot is a computer driven algorithm that looks for keywords entered by a user and provides a pre-determined response that is supposed to apply to what was asked.  Once deployed, it doesn’t consume any human resources, but it is often unreliable in determining the intent of the query.  For example, if a customer entered a chat query of, “Where can I find a remote deposit option on mobile banking?” The chatbot might respond with, “I think you are asking about deposit accounts, is that right?”  In my opinion, if your chatbot responds substantially in this manner, you would do better to turn it off as a method of improving the customer experience.

By contrast, live chat is just that: a chat session initiated by a customer is answered by a bank employee charged with that task.  This means they are much more likely to understand the nuances of the English language and not make the types of mistakes common for a chatbot.  However, just because someone understands the question does not mean they have the answer.  Live chat is only as good as the knowledge of the person answering the chat.  Even more problematic, there can be a delay in someone responding to a chat.  I recently started a chat session with my bank, and it took over seven minutes for anyone to respond.  Very few people, younger customers especially, may not want to wait that long for an initial response to a chat inquiry.

The issues endemic to chatbot and live chat have pushed me to see if there is an alternative.  So I am working on a proof of concept with a company that is going to test to see if their Generative AI solution can make a difference. I will be writing more about this project, so stay tuned.  Meanwhile, what else will AI change related to financial services?  I don’t know either, but I am convinced it’s important to stay on top of this.  For that reason, I found a conference that might yield important insights about the future of AI.  It’s called AI4, and I am registered to attend. You can learn more about what the conference is by clicking here.  There is a specific track about AI and financial services, so I am very excited about the content that will be presented at this conference.

Perhaps you have someone at your institution who might want to attend AI4.  If so, I would love to connect with them there and talk about AI or any other innovation your institution is considering.  The team at AI4 would like to extend to you a discount as an FNBB customer, just use discount code ai4usa10 when you register.  Hope to see you in August in Vegas where we’ll examine the future of AI in financial services!

The views expressed in this blog are for informational purposes. All information shared should be independently evaluated as to its applicability or efficacy.  FNBB does not endorse, recommend or promote any specific service or company that may be named or implied in any blog post.