There’s this little thing called ChatGPT. Unless you’ve been living on the far side of Jupiter, you’ve probably heard of it. Arriving on the scene for most of us in 2022, ChatGPT and its AI kin are reshaping our world. ChatGPT’s CEO Sam Altman recently testified before Congress and heralded its arrival as a “printing-press moment” (which, you might recall from your history classes, was kind of a big deal). Responses to ChatGPT range from existential anxiety to wild enthusiasm, to a measured hey-let’s-work-with-it attitude. One high school student, in response to teachers’ restrictions on ChatGPT, declared, “Everyone needs to chill out!”
While we contemplate that advice, let’s see how it might affect the world of finance.
Mundane and Miraculous?
The role of Chief AI Officer is becoming common, even recommended. If you think ChatGPT doesn’t have a place in finance, too, you’re in the minority. Business schools are rolling out certificate programs and degrees in AI. New finance hires soon will be – if they’re not already – setting up ChatGPT to handle basic automation, data entry, and customer queries. Even higher-level functions are a sandbox for evaluating risk, assessing market trends, improving processes, gaining insights on compliance and investments, and laying out strategic decision-making.
Red Flags
ChatGPT also has limits. Accuracy, privacy, and bias are big issues. With a regulatory vacuum for use of AI/ChatGPT in finance, firms are adding disclosures about use of AI in client communiqués to help manage legal exposure and some leaders urge caution.
Whatever your choices and uses, think of AI as the new Wild West. Be thoughtful, fully aware, and enjoy the ride.
“Human beings have dreams. Even dogs have dreams, but not you. You are just a machine, an imitation of life. Can a robot write a symphony? Can a robot turn a canvas into a beautiful masterpiece?”
– Del Spooner, I, Robot (Twentieth Century Fox, 2004)
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