AI won’t lead to mass job losses
Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, has rebutted fears that AI will lead to widespread unemployment.
“I’m an economic historian, before I became a central banker. Economies adapt, jobs adapt, and we learn to work with it. And I think, you get a better result by people with machines than with machines on their own,” Bailey told the BBC.
Bailey’s comments come as the latest economic assessment shows that UK businesses investing in AI are expected to see gains in efficiency and output. Utilising AI is anticipated to provide productivity benefits across multiple sectors.
However, Baroness Stowell of the House of Lords has cautioned that the UK risks “missing out on the AI goldrush” if it does not act quickly.
A report from the Lords’ Communications and Digital Committee honed in on large language models and tools like ChatGPT. The report called for updated copyright laws and urged the government to provide clarity on AI regulation—warning too much could hinder AI development in the country.
Both Bailey and the Lords committee seem to agree that the focus should be on harnessing the upsides of AI while managing legitimate risks.
The financial services industry also stands to gain from responsible AI adoption.
“Generative AI brings potentially exciting benefits for financial institutions. When it comes to fighting financial crime, for example, AI can improve the accuracy and speed of detection by analysing large data sets,” said Dr Henry Balani, Head of Industry & Regulatory Affairs at Encompass Corporation.
Balani emphasised however that key roles like Know Your Customer (KYC) analysts are irreplaceable for now. “It will instead accelerate existing processes and augment the work of analysts, empowering them to detect financial crime risk more quickly and comprehensively,” he added.
“The maximum value of generative AI can only be realised if banks and financial institutions have already put in place robust digital and automated processes to optimise the quality of data collated and deliver deeper customer insights. By prioritising this now, banks will be well equipped to take advantage of this new technology as it continues to evolve and mature.”
Last month, research from EXL found that around 89 percent of insurance and banking firms in the UK have introduced AI solutions over the past year. However, issues with data optimisation are often hindering their benefits.
(Image Credit: Bank of England under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED license. Cropped from original for effect.)
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