New report reveals a majority (72%) of
Canadians are comfortable with AI if it means they'll receive
better services, but 68 per cent are concerned they don't
understand the technology well enough to know the risks
Experts from banking, fintech, technology,
academia, public and not-for-profit organizations discuss the
responsible use of AI
TORONTO, Sept. 12, 2019 /CNW/ - A new TD Bank Group
(TD) survey reveals that a majority of Canadians (72%) are
comfortable with companies using artificial intelligence (AI) if it
means they'll receive better and more personalized service, but 68
per cent admit that they don't understand the technology well
enough to know the risks.
"The trust that our customers place in us is central to our
innovation philosophy, no matter which set of technologies we're
exploring," says Michael Rhodes,
Group Head, Innovation, Technology and Shared Services at TD.
"As the adoption of AI develops and continues across financial
services, we believe this is a critical time to advance an
industry-wide discussion that moves beyond principles to create
world-class services for Canadians in a responsible way. We see
this report as an important step in that direction."
When asked for their views on factors that are important when it
comes to how companies use AI, Canadians cite the following:
control over how their data is used (70%), transparency about the
use of the technology (55%), and that decisions made using AI are
easy to understand and explain (28%).
In addition to surveying Canadians about their attitudes toward
AI, TD recently engaged a cross-section of experts to participate
in a roundtable discussion to better understand the risks
associated with AI in financial services. TD shared the findings in
a report entitled: Responsible AI in Financial Services,
which was launched at an Economic Club of Canada event today.
Canadians and experts see opportunity and risk with
AI
Despite Canadians' familiarity with the technology, a large
majority (77%) say they are concerned about the risks AI poses to
society; while the same number fear that AI is advancing too
quickly to really understand the potential risks.
As financial institutions adopt new forms of technology to
improve the customer experience, TD believes that the financial
services industry needs to work together to continue building out
concrete best practices for the responsible use of AI.
"It is clear that Canadians recognize the value that
AI and digital tools can add to their lives, and want their banks
to keep pace with innovation, but they're looking for a greater
understanding of the technology and how it is being used," says
Rhodes. "We want to ensure we are building and supporting an
approach to AI that keeps consumer trust at the centre."
Recognizing the threat of bias in AI
Canadians and experts agree that bias is a challenge to the
future success of AI. The survey found that a majority (59%) of
Canadians believe that a lack of diversity among people working in
the field of AI could lead to biases in the development of the
technology. This concern is reinforced by the challenges raised by
the experts who attended the roundtable; they explored the risk of
data bias as companies look to provide machines with the vast
amounts of information necessary to create recommendations or
personalized services for customers.
The Responsible AI in Financial Services report
identifies the following areas of focus as financial institutions
look to the future evolution of this technology:
- Explainability: how AI experts and business leaders should
approach the inherent limitations of the technology as it relates
to explaining how AI models arrive at conclusions.
- Bias: control for bias and re-examine the concepts of
transparency, fairness and accountability in an AI-first
world.
- Diversity: promote the role that diversity and inclusion should
play at every level of AI adoption, from executive leadership to
the teams building AI models, to the data used to inform
decisions.
"AI is revolutionizing how Canadians interact with technology
and is reshaping their expectations around the personalization and
responsiveness of the services they receive, including from the
financial services industry," says Tomi Poutanen, Chief AI Officer at TD and
Co-founder of Layer 6. "The industry experts we spoke with are
not only starting an important conversation about how AI should
evolve, they are helping to pave a way forward that ensures all
Canadians will benefit.
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About TD Bank Group
The Toronto-Dominion Bank and its
subsidiaries are collectively known as TD Bank Group ("TD" or the
"Bank"). TD is the fifth largest bank in North America by branches and serves over 26
million customers in three key businesses operating in a number of
locations in financial centres around the globe: Canadian Retail,
including TD Canada Trust, TD Auto Finance Canada, TD Wealth
(Canada), TD Direct Investing, and
TD Insurance; U.S. Retail, including TD Bank, America's Most
Convenient Bank®, TD Auto Finance U.S., TD Wealth (U.S.), and an
investment in TD Ameritrade; and Wholesale Banking, including TD
Securities. TD also ranks among the world's leading online
financial services firms, with more than 13 million active online
and mobile customers. TD had CDN$1.4
trillion in assets on July 31,
2019. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades under the symbol "TD"
on the Toronto and New York Stock
Exchanges.
About the Survey
Environics Research Group conducted a
quantitative online survey of 1,200 adults in Canada that was included as part of the
report. The fieldwork was completed between May 17-25, 2019.
SOURCE TD Bank Group