By Chris Koch, SAP Insights
The world is obsessed with whether AI is going to become like us humans, and if so, when.
But what if we flip the question, and ask which humans in our organizations are most like AI?
I don’t mean that literally (please don’t start making memes about which of your colleagues seem the most robotic). And I don’t mean that being like AI means you’re out of a job.
I’m thinking about the roles that are most compatible with what AI does best: making predictions. And the roles in Finance are at the top of my list.
Why? CFOs will quickly find themselves jobless unless they can give the CEO a clear picture of is likely to happen in the next quarter, if not the next year. And AI can help the humans with that.
Researchers from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that AI can untangle intricate relationships between economic indicators or financial variables and create not just forecasts but alternate future scenarios at a depth that is impossible for humans to match.
Furthermore, finance isn’t your typical corporate silo. It relies on information gathered from every part of the business to fuel its auditing, reporting, compliance, and risk management processes. When that information improves, finance can do a better job – and the rest of the business benefits.
Researchers investigating AI and financial reporting quality found that when AI is used to improve forecasts about anything – customer demand, supply chain disruptions or delays, product defects, equipment failures – finance can make better estimates too. Think about having more accurate projections of line items ranging from sales returns and warranty claims to allowances for doubtful debts, loan losses, and inventory or other asset write-downs.
This FAQ Deflates the AI Hype
Prediction is the killer app for AI in finance and across the business. But that doesn’t mean it’s obvious how to put it to work in your company. That’s why we created AI in Finance: Myths, Misconceptions, and Reality.
In this easy-to navigate FAQ, we deflate the hype and answer your biggest questions (and some you probably didn’t know you had) about using AI in Finance and the rest of the business.
Read it to learn the reality about the strengths and weaknesses of AI, how to think about its effect on the finance organization, how to govern AI investment and deployment decisions across the rest of the business, and advice gathered from deep research.
You’ll discover that the people who are most like AI are those most likely to benefit from it.
