No world of work is being changed more by artificial intelligence than finance. One comes to this conclusion current survey of the German digital association Bitkom. 62 percent of respondents cited finance as the sector in which careers are most likely to be transformed by AI technologies. Only then: the IT industry.
“Everyone should familiarize themselves with AI now and educate themselves accordingly” is the recommendation of Bitkom Managing Director Dr. Bernhard Rohleder. Because the fact is: AI technologies are not only becoming more commonplace, progress – such as recently with ChatGPT – is also being made in shorter time leaps.
Enlightenment also includes the dark sides: fake news, data waste, plagiarism. We are already seeing the negative effects today. In particular, new forms of fraud in the area that, according to the Bitkom evaluation, is eroding the most. Which is why the study is also a call to action: Finance needs to be protected from the coming threats.
Peter Grausgruber, who is chief financial officer at Dutch fintech Fourthline and was previously at Bitpanda, shares this sentiment. “The threat is real,” he warns in an interview with BTC-ECHO. It is already becoming apparent today that forms of fraud are becoming more “systematic” and, in doubt, every individual is affected.
Artificial intelligence is becoming more sophisticated
AI fraud is already commonplace today. On a small scale, it is the registration procedures, also known as “Know your Customer”, or KYC for short, that are tricked with fake images and ID cards. Incidents on the crypto platform OKX are known. On a large scale, entire systems, infrastructures and data sets can be infiltrated. The possible damage here is difficult to quantify.
“Algorithms can simulate profiles very well and generate images or even documents,” says Grausgruber. This could now be done in real time. The AI’s forgery skills are becoming so authentic “that many people no longer recognize it.”
AI vs. AI
This in turn requires security precautions trained with artificial intelligence. Which makes it clear: The race for better AI systems is becoming more and more intense. Grausgruber is nevertheless optimistic: “The industry is not about to lose.”
A fake image would no longer be enough to circumvent registration procedures. “Our systems are so advanced that they can discover this.” Given the “sum of checks,” he thinks it is unlikely “that everything will be overwhelmed.”
Specific threats
However, the threat should not be dealt with negligently. Increasing digitalization also increases the risk of cyber attacks. Against the background of a digital ID, which could supplement identification documents in the future, the risk of identity theft also increases.
“It will continue to move into the non-physical, the digital level, that will also be the trend for AI threats,” said Grausgruber. Either “trying to replicate an ID” or passwords being cracked using AI.
Platforms have to adapt to this: “additional data points, authentication methods plus better AI technologies,” advises Grausgruber. But users could also contribute to their own safety. “The user also has to think about it and see what security restrictions are actually in place.” Well-chosen passwords could help.
The progress of artificial intelligence will not stop at the blockchain area either. “Further developments will be needed there too, not every blockchain will be secure enough and evolution will be needed there too.” The key is to combine protective mechanisms: “We will make great progress there,” believes Grausgruber.
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