NAB has announced a significant transformation with artificial intelligence after CEO Ross McEwan and his leadership team returned from a briefing in the United States with high-level technology leaders from Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, consulting firms Bain and Accenture. laying the foundation.
McEwan said he and his team are currently working on implementation plans for one, three and six months, emphasizing the utmost importance of “keeping our banks, our customers and our colleagues safe”. Stated.
“It’s nothing new to us because we already have some AI tools in areas like cybersecurity, fraud and financial crime today,” McEwan said.
“But we have to form the appropriate guardrails and then plan for the long term.
“That way, more colleagues have access to[the tools]making it easier for them to do their jobs and help their customers.”
He said implementation would be in no hurry and would be the “first crawl” before NAB started accelerating.
McEwan also said he wanted to reassure the bank’s 36,000-strong workforce amid growing fears that AI could slash the bank’s large workforce. .
“If you are willing and open to learn, we will take you on a journey,” he said.
NAB has used the same approach in its Cloud Guild program to train more than 7,000 people in cloud computing offerings and about 13,000 people in banking career qualification courses.
Last November, Chat GPT, a chatbot launched by Sam Altman’s OpenAI, exploded in explosive growth, reaching 100 million monthly active users in January, the fastest growing in history. It is said to be a consumer application that uses
Some experts have likened the rapid development of AI and overwhelming response to ChatGPT to the rise of the Internet in terms of its impact on humanity.
McEwan agreed, adding the birth of the PC to the list of technological events that redefine the world.
“This is one of the game-changing technologies, and it’s such a big thing, that’s why I brought the whole management team to the United States,” he said.
“So I think you either come forward and use it to move your organization forward, or we have a company that does it.
“I want to be at the forefront of that.”
careful management
The potential of AI is astonishing, but there are also more moderate voices arguing that AI needs to be carefully managed and regulated to curb its potential excesses.
Generative AI models can learn from their failures, so even Altman said, ‘Humanity’s future should be decided by humanity.’
That said, ChatGPT founders believed it was important not to regulate “existing” AI models, otherwise innovation would be stifled.
McEwan said at some point regulators will need to ensure that the technology is operating within desirable boundaries to prevent it from being used for nefarious purposes.
“That’s why it’s so important to maintain a big fence around your organization’s customer data,” he said.
“We should use it for the betterment of our customers and that will frame the policies we put in place.
“Naturally, the regulators will be keeping a very close eye on this matter.”
Meanwhile, it was immediately clear that AI was reaching the world’s data pools in a staggering way.
extraordinary ability
McEwan said some executives filled the time at the airport by asking a variety of questions to test ChatGPT’s functionality.
It took me just ‘a few seconds’ to spit out a comprehensive and accurate answer.
Job security is of course a concern, but the potential for new job creation is also part of the equation, he said.
McEwan said he oversaw the introduction of the first bot by the Royal Bank of Scotland when he was chief executive.
“From there, two very different jobs were quickly created. First, the person training the bot had to make sure the data coming in was actually correct. There were people who did,” he said.
“These two jobs were brand new jobs. I think it’s going to require some very interesting skills in the way.’That.
“But as a bank, we need to make sure that customer data is protected and test everything to see if the machine actually reflects reality.
“The machine itself is learning, but it gets smarter and smarter over time.”
The Importance of Relationships and Traditional Banking Skills
The NAB Secretary also said that even as the world adopts human-controlled AI, it still appreciates the importance of human relationships and traditional banking skills.
“In fact, this will make bankers equal or even more valuable in the future,” he said.
“People who can talk to customers, take all the information and data, and be able to explain it to them in a way that makes sense to them is going to be very important.”
Some things never change.
