Westpac Sees Generative AI Potential For Banks

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After going public, ChatGPT quickly gained traction, and by December 2022, an estimated 266 million people visited the platform to try it out for themselves. ChatGPT is built upon OpenAI’s latest technological advancements, and its foundation now seems to have the potential to make it toward the banking industry.

Westpac to explore the potential of using the generative AI. Image source: Westpac

Experts in the banking market have already provided comments about the potential use of generative AI in banking and financial institutions, yet limitations are still in place that need to be considered and overcome.

The Potential Of Generative AI In The Banking Sector

The banking sector is one of the latest industries to express interest in generative AI, such as what we gain access to with ChatGPT. A blog post on Westpac Wire explores the potential opportunities that banking institutes could gain access to when they decide to implement artificial intelligence as part of their internal operations.

Some banks have already started to do investigations in terms of how ChatGPT and the generative AI technologies could be used to streamline various processes. The great thing about these technologies would include their low cost. Even with a monthly or annual subscription, the cost associated with using these technologies would be significantly lower compared to cases where more employees are required. Additionally, the technology is very fast, as has already been demonstrated with ChatGPT and related innovations. Faster processing can result in fewer waiting times for clients.

At the moment, banking institutes are still investigating the use of generative AI technologies and how they can be incorporated.

Some areas that are currently being explored in terms of generative AI in the banking sector include:

How specific job functions could benefit from the use of generative AI and speed up various processes.
How generative AI could be utilised in the process of writing software that is used within the banking industry. This could help to reduce the cost of hiring software developers to write code that is used to present the bank on a website, as well as internal applications used by the employees.
The possibility of using generative AI as a way of drafting up policies. This could help to streamline the process of creating legal documents and the facility can then have these contracts reviewed by a legal professional. A review of documents would essentially be much less costly compared to having the professional also draft the contracts and policies.

Meet Westpac’s new digital job coach. Image source: Westpac

Current Limitations And Obstacles

Not all is perfect with artificial intelligence yet, and this is something that we need to keep in mind. One of the major issues when using or looking at ChatGPT as an example would be the fact that it has limited data that can be used. ChatGPT is not directly connected to the database. Instead, data up to a certain point in time is extracted from the internet and then placed on a database. The ChatGPT model then has access to this extracted data, which is used alongside machine learning to draft answers when a user enters a prompt.

A concern raised regarding these factors is related to who should be trusted in the end, should the generative AI be implemented.

While this is a limitation, many people have found ChatGPT to be quite useful since its public launch.

Another thing that has raised concern is the fact that ChatGPT can sometimes provide answers that seem authentic and accurate due to the way it is presented, but the data is actually wrong. This could result in serious errors within the banking industry when the technology is implemented, especially when little human interaction exists in order to monitor how the generative AI works and reviews any content that it produces.

Banking and technology experts have noted that it is still possible to take advantage of the technology that ChatGPT runs on. ChatGPT is only one of the various projects that OpenAI has developed – and it’s a publicly available solution built on top of the OpenAI APIs that companies can gain access to.

Thus, we need to look past ChatGPT itself and rather solely focus on it as an example of what generative AI is capable of. By turning to the APIs that power ChatGPT, along with other technological solutions that OpenAI has developed, it’s possible to create a more “niched down” system that only performs specific tasks. Through machine learning, the model can be taught how to do these particular tasks effectively without focusing on a broad range of skills. This would ultimately help to improve the accuracy of data generated by the model, especially since the programmer has control over the data the language model and generative AI tech has access to.

While Westpac is recognised as one of the first banks to investigate the opportunities that generative AI could pose for the banking industry, it’s certainly not the only institute considering this possibility. Further interest in using generative AI within the banking industry is sure to surface in the near future. If one banking institute manages to implement generative AI effectively, then at that point, a spike in interest and usage of the technology will surely follow in other financial sectors too.

Right now, however, experts first need to effectively assess the current stance of OpenAI and other generative AI technology. It’s important to fully understand the limitations that are present and how these will induce implications for companies who are in the banking industry. Once solutions are created to overcome those particular challenges, the process of adopting AI in banks will become easier and safer for both the bank owners and the customers that trust the institution.

Conclusion

Whether ChatGPT is going to be the biggest rival Google has ever faced is not yet clear, but it is certain that the technology that powers this artificial intelligent chatbot is going to become transformative in the future. As major advancements are made in the generative AI market, banking industries are now showing interest in what could be achieved with these technologies. Right now, it’s possible that banks could start using generative AI to create documents, assist with software programming, and more.

References

Written by The Original PC Doctor on 7/3/2023.

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