Artificial intelligence sounds like a phrase from the future, but in reality, AI has become so ingrained in our day-to-day lives—many of us don’t even realize we’re using it.

Think about the last time you booked a flight. The airline’s booking platform used AI to decide your price. Or, look back on the last time you applied for a loan. Whether it was a mortgage, auto loan, HELOC, personal loan, or even a credit card, the lender used AI to help determine your eligibility and interest rate.

AI is all around us, and its impact is becoming more visible by the day. Self-driving cars are popping up in big cities, and platforms like ChatGPT have gone mainstream. Last year, AI-generated art grew in popularity as more people discovered OpenAI’s DALL-E system.

AI’s capabilities are virtually limitless, which can be exhilarating or nerve-wracking depending on your point of view. Let’s take a look at how AI integrates into your financial world, and what we can expect to happen in the coming years.

Real-Life Example of a ChatGPT Conversation 

AI uses algorithm processes to make logical sense out of mass amounts of data sets. Beyond parsing through information to formulate a plane ticket price, it’s grown to become a truly intuitive technology that can effectively mimic human conversation.

To demonstrate how far AI technology has advanced in recent years, we asked ChatGPT to explain what large language models are, as well as their benefits. Take a look at the full conversation here.

Benefits of Recent AI Advancements 

AI platforms, like ChatGPT, are great for sparking new ideas. In just a few clicks, AI can generate ideas about what to get your spouse for their birthday, where to visit during your next trip to Europe, or what topics to include in your next blog post.

You can share a prompt, such as “Create a budget-friendly itinerary for visiting Sicily in July,” and use what AI generates as an effective starting point for planning your itinerary.

Potential Drawbacks of Using AI 

The words “starting point” are critical here, because AI (at least as of now) lacks human judgment and critical thinking, both of which are essential to the creation process. AI also has a reputation for misconstruing facts or providing entirely false information altogether. 

In addition, many people are wary of this recent rise in AI, and an initial mistrust in its capabilities could decelerate the rate of mass adoption. But wariness is nothing new. At every inflection point in the evolution of tech, people have been concerned about the “next big thing.” First it was the internet, then came cell phones. Now, it’s AI. Just because technology is evolving, we don’t have to be fearful of it. Instead, focus on the potential and exciting opportunities ahead that technology, combined with our own human judgment, can create for humanity.

How AI Can Impact Your Financial World

Many industries, including financial services, are starting to dip their toes in the AI water. There are a few common ways in which AI is helping advisors more effectively serve their clients.

Analyze Historical Data

AI can analyze an incomprehensible amount of data quickly to identify patterns and trends. Say you want to know how the market has historically behaved after a recession. AI can review historical market data and present relevant charts and facts. We can use AI’s data and analysis to talk through historic trends and use that information to help guide our decisions moving forward.

Identify Potential Fraud

AI can also serve as a watchdog for financial firms by monitoring financial transactions and alerting advisors to potential fraudulent activities. In this capacity, it provides an additional layer of protection for advisors and their clients.

Streamline Business Operations

For business owners, operations and administrative tasks can take focus away from the core business functions. When there’s an opportunity to automate these tasks using AI tools, it not only streamlines processes but helps ensure greater accuracy as well.

A Few Warnings When Using AI

AI is a great tool that’s worth exploring. As we discussed above, it offers plenty of benefits that can save users an immense amount of time and energy. With that being said, there are a few concerns that users have uncovered while exploring various AI-driven platforms.

Misinformation

One of the biggest takeaways so far from ChatGPT is that any information it provides needs to be fact-checked. Recently, a New York lawyer used ChatGPT while researching a case. He submitted briefings to the court that referenced six made-up court cases, complete with their own fake quotes and citations. This misstep landed the lawyer in hot water, and he now faces his own set of legal battles because he did not fact-check the information provided through ChatGPT.

Lack of Security Measures

It’s never a good idea to include your personal information (such as date of birth, Social Security number, address, etc.) in an AI prompt. Platforms like ChatGPT are constantly learning, and that means anything you type in, it stores for future use. These platforms are not secure sites, and your information will be compromised if used.

False Impersonations

AI is getting better by the day at creating lifelike images and voices—enough so that AI-generated images of famous celebrities and politicians are fooling even their biggest fans. The problem is, if someone has enough samplings of your voice or image, they can do a believable job of impersonating you over the phone or online.

Using their impersonation of your voice, these scammers may be able to gain access to your accounts and transfer funds or otherwise cause serious harm to your financial life. As a result, false impersonation could lead to fraud or other serious criminal offenses.

TriaGen and AI

TriaGen relies on technology and platforms that we anticipate will soon begin to integrate AI features to improve automation and efficiency. 

While we appreciate AI’s ability to help us pull data together quickly, we still use our deep industry experience and critical thinking to apply that knowledge to your unique financial circumstances. No matter how advanced AI gets, there’s no substitute for developing a longstanding partnership that helps us understand your goals, personal values, and vision for the future.

The Future of AI

What will AI look like moving forward? It’s really anyone’s guess at this point. Consider how drastically the internet has changed between 1999 and today—very few people could predict the evolution of such a new technology. AI has lots of potential for future growth. Keep in mind, however, that what seems innovative now may not feel quite so groundbreaking in the future—think about how groundbreaking 3-D printing felt just five years ago.

We’re really at the starting line when it comes to AI and it’ll be interesting to see who becomes the big power players further down the line. It’s possible ChatGPT could become obsolete—just think of how big AOL and Earthscape were when the internet first went mainstream.

As with any other piece of technology that’s made its way into the mainstream, remember that there is potential for good and bad outcomes when using AI. Take precautions to protect your private information, and always fact-check. When used inappropriately, AI can be dangerous and quickly spread misinformation. But when thoughtfully incorporated into your life, AI is a powerful tool for researching large amounts of information and analyzing data quickly. 

If you’d like to hear more about our thoughts on AI, we’d love to chat with you. In the meantime, we encourage you to explore ChatGPT by putting in your own prompts and seeing AI in action.