ChatGPT and digital finance

Technology never ceases to amaze, and ChatGPT is the latest digital advancement to cause a worldwide stir.

ChatGPT is the latest Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered language model developed by OPENAI, a research lab founded by Sam Altman and Elon Musk and launched to the public this year. At its core, it is an automatic chatbot that “can generate human-like text responses” to any given prompt imaginable. Trained with a massive amount of text data, it can conjure in a few seconds an intelligent conversation about any topic, provide well-written essays and articles, and answer almost any text-based query. Its responses are crafted in casual, natural language – just like you are talking to a peer with an extensive plethora of knowledge.

ChatGPT is powerful. It’s a highly-intelligent chatbot that can write just like us humans would, but armed with the constant ability to gather new data from the Internet in seconds. It can respond, analyze, listen, edit, and create. And as several sectors around the world – education, tech, science, humanities, and more – are beginning to see its life-changing impact, ChatGPT is now being seen as a cutting-edge disruptor to everyday life. This can be seen as either good or bad – that this virtual robot can complete basic human tasks and services faster, easier, and even better and more accurately than most humans can. However, because of its power, it can be abused. ChatGPT is susceptible to plagiarism and the like – it can even be used by cybercriminals to create believable phishing emails, malware, and non-ethical material. The fear of AI eradicating human jobs and roles cannot be ignored as well.

Whether we like it or not, ChatGPT is revolutionizing the workplace as we speak. And technology is supposed to do just this, right? Disrupt how we normally do everyday tasks to make our lives easier, more convenient, more efficient, and smarter. What matters most is how we harness its power. How do we leverage ChatGPT’s potential for the greater good of the finance industry? How do we make it work for us, and not against us? The AI-powered future of digital finance heavily depends on the answers to these questions.

We can see that ChatGPT has been trained to be a highly-reliable chatbot. In the digital finance industry, 24/7 customer service is hinged on instant messaging, live agents, and social media inquiries. The chatbot can save banks and companies a lot of time, energy, and resources to complete such tasks by training ChatGPT to accurately and empathetically respond to queries and concerns that may not necessarily need a live agent to do so. ChatGPT’s tone and delivery can also be tailored to be personalized and attuned to the customer’s behavior and needs, unlike a regular robotic chatbot. Banks need not worry about the speed, efficiency, and accuracy of responses. Not only would it allow banks to utilize their manpower for other important operations, but this feature – if developed properly – can be key in increasing customer satisfaction and fostering trust in your company.

Because of ChatGPT’s ability to analyze behavior and produce tailor-fit conclusions based on data incurred, ChatGPT can also act as a personal financial advisor to clients. This can be a game-changing feature offered by many banks, who are looking for more efficient ways to curate and offer customer-centric programs and financial services based on the customer’s needs, wants, spending behavior, income, aspirations, and goals. This can be another means for improved customer service and company credibility. As ChatGPT gains more knowledge, it gets smarter and smarter, thus producing even more personalized finance solutions for customers.

Completing financial calculations, generating analysis reports, and even making stock market predictions are not far from what ChatGPT can do. As mentioned, through its “deep learning system,” it can act as its own financial analyst and analyze trends, market data, and information from various channels at lightning speed and with impressive accuracy. This capability – if utilized and honed further – can help banks automate countless financial processes that take resources, manpower, high costs, and precious time to do so. Stock market trends and financial reports can be completed by ChatGPT – imagine that.

Because of its intelligence in spotting patterns and trends in seconds, financial institutions can use this technology as an initial defense layer of security and safety. It can help them identify potential risks, detect potential fraud, flag suspicious activity, monitor unusual transactions, and then provide insights and necessary solutions in record time.

For the finance industry, ChatGPT is a powerful tool with an impressive impact. It can streamline and automate financial processes, boost customer service, provide risk management, and make informed and personalized financial decisions that are tailor-fit to the bank it works for and the customers it serves. The potential of Artificial Intelligence to change the world of digital finance is overwhelming, yet astounding, and this is just the beginning. We envision greater things to happen in the near future, as long as we continue to look at this amazing technological development as our partner, and not a threat. In the digital finance industry, we never shy away from progress – we welcome it, understand it, and learn how to utilize it for the greater good.

Lito Villanueva is the Philippines’ award-winning thought leader on digital transformation and inclusive digital finance.  He is the executive vice president and chief innovation and inclusion officer of RCBC. Concurrently, he is the chief digital transformation advisor for the Yuchengo Group of Companies. He is also the founding chairman of Fintech Alliance.ph, the Philippines’ largest organization of startups and unicorns that collectively generates over 90 percent of digital transactions volume in the country today. He was elected global chairman of the South Africa-based Alliance of Digital Finance Associations from over 30 countries. He was named among the 2023 Seamless Asia’s Top 50 Banking and Payments Leaders, Top 100 Fintech Leaders in Asia, Top 100 Filipinos on LinkedIn, Mr. Fintech of the Philippines by BizNews Asia, and Chief Innovation Officer of the Year by The Banker, among his over 70 global and regional accolades.