As a future-focussed international finance centre (IFC), we recognise that technology provides many opportunities for increasing productivity – whether through user training, systems rationalisation, cloud services, or artificial intelligence (AI) – and it is clear that digital-first businesses who invest in technology can become productivity leaders.

In our latest research, Jersey Means Business: Ready to Support Greater Productivity, having up-to-date technology is recommended as a focus area that may help firms improve their productivity.

At our Jersey Means Business event, it was suggested that AI could become one of the most transformational technologies of our time. We have explored the impacts of AI in our video, Artificial Intelligence: An Open World, and via our CEO’s blog, Artificial Expectations or Intelligent Opportunities?. However, globally there remains a great deal of uncertainty around the use of AI, its ethics, and how it can be used with a privacy-first mentality.

Jersey Finance is committed to understanding transformational opportunities and providing clarity to our Members. We have spoken to thought leaders, academics, heard from our Members who are already using AI in their businesses, and attended events focussed on AI and automation.

We have consolidated our knowledge into 20 digestible points through four key perspectives in the Jersey Finance ‘State of AI 20-20’…

Predictions

  • Basic automation will continue to gain adoption, but the medium-term AI trend is towards machine learning
  • AI will be most successful when human intuition and creativity is blended with machine computational capabilities
  • People will continue to be the soul of your organisation; intelligent technologies will free them from repetitive tasks
  • AI will improve client experiences by shortening the time between the client need being expressed and it being fulfilled
  • Enhanced analytics will enhance data driven strategies and decision-making capabilities

Ethics

  • Transparency with clients on “what data is being used for what purpose” and any involvement of potential third parties is essential in building trust
  • Firms need to provide explainability of what has been deployed and how the AI has reached a decision – if it cannot be explained should it be used?
  • If using nudge theory, consider how far to go and at what point clients consider the recommendations to be intrusive
  • The ethical question is subjective and cannot be wholly considered in the same domain as the more black or white areas of risk and compliance
  • Human consciousness defines acceptable ethical boundaries, consciousness cannot be coded but actions to prevent unethical activity can

Use Cases

  • Manual but repetitive tasks are the primary candidate for automation technologies
  • Machine learning applied to analyse trends and behaviours can support firms in their fight against fraud and money laundering
  • AI’s ability to compute enhanced datasets can enhance credit risk management or bespoke pricing models
  • Chatbots which support clients outside of business hours or that can assist staff with internal process or policy questions
  • Understanding client behaviours to enhance interactions, identify a decline in relationships, and predict churn before it happens

Barriers to Successful Adoption

  • Fragmented or inconsistent operational processes which cannot be successfully automated
  • Starting with inconsistent and unstructured data
  • Limited vision and organisational support to train staff, accept and adapt to change
  • Basing AI driven strategies on data sets which contains inherent biases potentially leading to unexpected or spurious results
  • Moving too big too quickly with unfamiliar AI technologies

Throughout 2020, Jersey Finance will have a focus on productivity, technology, and AI. We are seeking partners to contribute to the debate on artificial intelligence and provide clarity and context through the world of financial services.

Opportunities will be available for our Members to collaborate and provide thought leadership or share case studies on the use of AI in their Jersey businesses. To find out more, contact Adam Brown at Jersey Finance.

You can read or download a copy of our Jersey Means Business: Ready to Support Greater Productivity research paper here.