When it comes to financial planning and management, artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming one of the most important tools at our disposal.
In a world where market conditions can change rapidly and unexpectedly, being able to rely on AI to help us make informed decisions about our finances can be the difference between success and failure.
So, what exactly is artificial intelligence, and how will it impact our finances in the years to come? In this article, I take a look at what AI is, how it’s being used in the world of finance today, and what the experts think it will be like going forward?
What is artificial intelligence?
In short, artificial intelligence is the ability of computers to perform tasks that would normally require human intelligence, such as understanding natural language and recognizing patterns.
How is AI being used in finance today?
When it comes to finance, artificial intelligence can be used in a number of different ways. For example, AI can be used to help identify trends in the markets, make predictions about future market movements, and even provide recommendations on where to invest your money.
At present, AI is being used in several different ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of financial services. Amongst the improvements is the ability to better detect and prevent fraud. AI can help financial institutions to identify fraudulent activity more quickly and accurately. This can help to protect customers from loss and save businesses money.
It can also help us to improve our customer service, as we are now able to create a more personalised, efficient and custom-made journey. It’s important to reflect on the role that AI plays in our lives – especially when it comes to our finances. Since the early days of computing, AI has been developed and refined to help automate routine tasks with Robotics Process Automation.
In recent years, AI has become more sophisticated and is now being used in a variety of industries to assist with tasks that are typically seen as more complex or difficult for humans to do. Simply put, AI can help us make better financial decisions. For example, AI can be used to analyse large data sets to identify patterns and trends that we may not be able to see ourselves.
This information can then be used to make more informed decisions about investing, spending, and saving. AI can also be used to provide tailored financial advice that is specific to our individual needs and circumstances. This is because AI can take into account a range of personal data points – such as our income, expenditure, debts, assets and goals – to provide us with personalised recommendations.
What’s more, AI can help us to automate and stay on top of our money without having to put in a lot of time and effort. For example, AI-powered software can be used to track our spending, monitor our bank balances and alert us to any unusual activity.
AI can also be used to help us stay disciplined with our budgets by sending us reminders and notifications when we are close to overspending. It’s important to remember that AI is still in its infancy stage and there is still a lot of development needed, but with refinement and growth, this is an area worth exploring and investing in.
*Sanja van den Berg is the Group Customer Experience Manager at Old Mutual Namibia
