At the Technology Tools for Today (T3) conference this past week, integration of AI and VR into tech was seen all around and fintech was no exception to integration of this new technology. Fidelity has integrated AI of Alexa from Amazon into their eMoney platform, allowing real time AI answers to financial questions. This was amongst many other AI and VR integrations that fintech is looking to roll out to the general market as soon as possible. I think it is beneficial for fintech to continually remain on the cutting edge of today’s technology, so that they remain up to date with the technologies of the day that are popular and do not get run up by competition that comes in and does a better job of tech integration before they can.
Still, I think the industry should be weary of integrating every little new technology that pops up just to be relevant, because it could mean that a new addition ends up being more novelty than useful and will not provide long-term value as a feature for fintech companies. For example, I can easily see a VR feature of money management being very visual and appealing, but it may not actually add enough functionality to a fintech platform to make it viable to actually add, so companies should keep in mind they are adding novel features that will provide value to their consumers.
Link to article: http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20170217/BLOG09/170219905/financial-technology-companies-embrace-artificial-intelligence-and