Is AI finally more than a buzzword? Finding out at Finovate 2024
Three start-ups to keep an eye on
There’s no denying AI is here to stay. In this new chapter of modern technology, ChatGPT was the opening act and we’re all currently on the edge of our seats, wondering if the crowd will erupt in a standing ovation. This week I attended Finovate Europe 2024 to see what I could glean.
Anyone following the stock market will have seen the parabolic rise of Nvidia stock. Climbing 58% just this year, and almost 500% over the last three, Nvidia is akin to a company selling fuel to F1 teams. Except, in this analogy, the ‘fuel’ is Nvidia’s H100 processor and the competition is sparse. Their unique GPU has captured over 70% of the market, and is the core foundation facilitating progress in the field of AI. Barriers to entry are high and it doesn’t look like anyone is catching up soon. Alongside this, any company even loosely associated with AI has seen dramatic increases in their stock price, oftentimes not associated with any actual increase in revenue, inflating their Price/Earnings ratio. Whether this makes these companies overpriced is dependent on if the AI hype can bring with it an increase in profits.
Hence, this article poses the question, did any of the start-ups showcasing their tech at Finovate indicate tangible advances? Let’s start with a summary of some of the stand outs. The first two companies were voted for by attendees as Best of Show winners and, in my opinion, represent some of the best use cases of AI.
Zeed
Zeed is essentially TikTok for investors. Using AI generated content, the app shows short-form videos about the stock market. The ability to connect your portfolio (from apps such as Robinhood and Trading 212) improves the personalisation aspect of the app. The content also includes direct insights from CEOs and asset managers. Democratising financial education, this companies vision goes somewhat hand in hand with that of Robinhood’s vision to “DEMOCRATIZE FINANCE FOR ALL™”. When I asked what the future of AI at Zeed looked like, co-founder Rohan Regmi told me "Financial education is never a “one size fits all” solution. AI opens up opportunities for us to continue delivering personalised financial education and insights at scale."
Corsound AI
This company is operating within the field of voice intelligence and deepfake recognition. The AI is able to determine whether a given voice matches the facial structure shown in a still selfie. Many of you will have seen the rise in deepfake AI generated content, often scarily convincing of its proposed authenticity. The arms race between AI generation and recognition has begun, and technologies like this will become increasingly necessary as the rate and sophistication of AI generated content increases. Corsound AI’s tech is impressive. However, when pressed whether the tech would work if my brother tried to pass his voice off as mine, the team acknowledged it had a success rate of 80%. Still an achievement, but shows this would only work as part of wider security measures unless it’s accuracy is improved. As a side note, my brother has been able to fool my Apple Face ID in the past, though I personally don’t think we look that much alike.
Intrepid Fox
This AI solution speaks with banks’ customers via chat, asks for required documents, then checks and clarifies any issues in a fairly elaborate manner. For example, the live demo demonstrated a loan application and the AI questioned the validity of an invoice for “steel pipes”, since the application had originated from a consultancy. The user was then able to explain that they were in fact an engineering consultancy. This process would usually take weeks of back and forth with an employee, but this AI was able to condense the process into a matter of minutes. The only caveat is that the end result is a summary report that then needs to be check over by a human. Of course, leaving the entire process to AI comes with a number of ethical and legal issues that we may not see ironed out for some years.
The demos at Finovate highlighted some advanced uses for AI that will surely prove profitable in the coming years, provided the current rate of advancement continues and we don’t hit any major technological or geopolitical road blocks. Given this tech is set to drastically improve its capabilities, legislature must also catch up to allow these companies to flourish. If we are to take a history lesson from the dot-com bubble, it’s that disruptive tech can make us too optimistic in the short term, but there’s often no way of knowing where the technology will lead. The Gartner hype cycle shows a loose graphical representation of this. Thus, AI isn’t just a fad, but how far and fast it will go is yet to be seen. The future lies in the hands of today’s innovators…that is until AI takes over of course.
I believe we are at the beginning of a long-long journey..
Love this roundup! Would be interesting to see how these get on.