· But Headspring report reveals that three-quarters of people working in financial services do not use any form of artificial intelligence in their current role
New online research into the use of artificial intelligence in the workplace has revealed that office workers in financial services who were surveyed, are more likely than any other industry to believe technology that incorporates AI would be able to do a more accurate job at financial forecasting (49%) than a human.
The research, which was carried out by YouGov on behalf of Headspring, surveyed 2,000 UK office workers to unveil exactly what they think about the advances in AI technology in relation to their jobs. The study also looked at how business leaders think AI will change roles, to see if employers and employees have the same expectations.
According to Headspring’s report, over three quarters (77%) of those surveyed working in financial services admit to not currently using any form of artificial intelligence in their current role – a further 5% admitted to not knowing if they used the technology. However, on a national level, financial services and accounting appeared highly among jobs that office workers believe would be able to do a more accurate job than a human, if handled by AI:
The top five jobs UK office workers think AI could do a more accurate job than a human are:
- Data handling (59%)
- Financial forecasting (42%)
- IT (35%), Accounting/managing finances (35%)
- Productivity management (24%)
- Communications (17%)
A common theme revealed in the research was the importance of human instinct and decision making alongside AI. Among office workers surveyed who work in financial services, almost two in five (38%) associate AI technology with creating ’robots or systems which replace human jobs’. However, when thinking generally about decisions made in relation to their current job, 49% of this audience said they would be more likely to trust decisions made by humans than AI, with just 7% saying the opposite – 28% said they would be likely to trust them equally.
Beyond the finance industry, around half (51%) of office workers surveyed nationally say they would be more likely to trust decisions made in relation to their current job by humans more than AI, with just over a quarter (26%) claiming to be likely to trust decisions made by both AI and humans equally.
On the other side of the spectrum, UK office workers surveyed did have some positive things to say about introducing AI into the workplace, with two in five (39%) believing the technology would help to improve the quality of their work, and more than one in five (22%) claiming it would make their work more accurate.
Commenting on the results, Headspring’s CEO Gustaf Nordbäck says: “The financial services sector is already benefitting from the impact of AI across a variety of applications. Due to the vast amount of data readily available in the industry, the opportunities to leverage AI and machine learning are massive. Among finance professionals, 30% believe introducing AI would reduce the number of people in their team. However, our research has clearly shown that even as AI rolls out more widely, there will always be a place for humans and human led decision making.
“With much talk of how the ‘age of AI’ is set to take over the workplace, it’s interesting to see how AI and specifically machine learning is being adopted in various industries in reality. Despite concerns about AI replacing human jobs, there are clear opportunities for growth and investment within financial services, with 32% believing their employer should invest in people and development before rolling out the technology, and 39% saying they should create a new role to manage it.”
Gustaf Nordbäck continues: “In terms of the priorities, the workforce believes their leaders need to focus on before implementing AI, processes to manage the ethics of AI are high on the list, alongside effective communications. There is a high level of apprehension from the changes AI could bring, and therefore successful implementation of AI will require the business leaders to properly prepare their organisations and educate their staff before rolling out any changes.”
For more information on AI in the workplace and to see the full research, click here to view the full report and further research findings.
