A large majority of finance professionals (88%) now use AI in their work, but its potential for customer contact remains underutilized. Only 40 percent of organizations use AI for customer service, while generative AI applications such as ChatGPT or Copilot are used by 52 percent of finance professionals, mainly for text generation and email.

 

Research among 359 finance professionals, conducted by Markteffect on behalf of Conclusion, shows that AI is mainly used for automation (30%) and generating insights (36%). Think of applications that predict customer behavior, assess risks or check transactions. However, AI use in core processes, such as compliance or credit management, remains limited: 54 percent say they do not (yet) use AI for this.

Key figures at a glance:

• 88% of respondents use AI at work
• 40% of respondents say their organization uses AI for customer service
• 52% use generative AI (like ChatGPT)
• 54% do not (yet) use AI for core financial processes
• 81% see AI as an opportunity
• 70% insufficiently aware of AI Act

Customer service and AI: more possibilities than currently being used

AI is mainly used in customer service for virtual assistants and automatic routing of customer inquiries. These applications offer direct opportunities to increase customer satisfaction and efficiency, according to the researchers. However, only 48 percent mention handling customer inquiries faster and more accurately as an AI priority, and only 14 percent think AI will lead to entirely new products or services.

FOMO and lack of knowledge

While 65 percent expect AI usage to continue to grow over the next 12 months, there are also significant barriers:

• 80% of respondents experience obstacles, especially around privacy, data security and legislation;
• 73% are concerned about data and privacy risks;
• 53% say that 'fear of making mistakes' outweighs 'missing the boat'.

The European AI Act could help with this, but 70 percent of professionals are barely aware of it. Only 5 percent say they are fully aware, while the legislation sets strict requirements for customer-facing applications (such as profiling and credit assessment).

Knowledge gap and shadow IT

Conclusion warns in the report about the emergence of 'shadow AI use' within organizations: employees experiment with generative AI without central direction. 36 percent do not feel sufficiently informed about AI and 55 percent say they do not feel comfortable enough to apply AI in their daily work. At the same time, 84 percent find it essential to be aware of the impact of AI. (Conclusion)

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