FICO Warns Financial Services Dodging Responsible AI Initiatives

Consumer credit score provider FICO called the financial services industry out for lack of Responsible AI initiatives, which could jeopardize a businesses AI deployment by creating ethical and reputational risks. 

Responsible AI initiatives aim to improve AI standards by creating strategies and ethical approaches to AI deployment, while also providing customers and clients with transparency as to when AI is used and how it is deployed across a financial institutions services. 

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“Even though we have seen a growth in demand for AI-driven financial products and offerings, many financial services firms have yet to develop and hold themselves accountable to Responsible AI standards,” said Scott Zoldi, chief analytics officer at FICO. “Beyond fulfilling an ethical responsibility to their customers, implementing standards for Responsible AI that is explainable, auditable, and ethical helps to improve brand loyalty, reduces reputational risks, and better enables regulatory standards to be met.”

In a study published by FICO with 100 C-level AI leaders surveyed, it found that less than 10 percent of respondents had fully mature AI strategies with consistently scaled model development. 

“In order to succeed in AI digital transformation, it is imperative that organizations are committed to strong ethical AI practice and governance,” said Chun Schiros, SVP and head of enterprise data science at Regions Bank. “As we increase the use of AI applications, continuous learning and considerations of fairness and explainability are crucial to support.”

Failure to develop proper practices for AI development and deployment can lead to myriad issues in the future. It’s clear executives in the financial world understand this however, with 74 percent of respondents saying that better experiences for customers can come with responsible AI. Alongside this, 69 percent said it could create new revenue opportunities, and 63 percent saw it as valuable to minimizing reputational risk.