Technology powerhouse IBM released its AI-powered compliance software, Watson Financial Services, on Wednesday, but prior to that, Chicago-based Ascent rolled out its own AI solution to help advisors meet their compliance obligations.
Ascent's Navigator platform uses natural language processing and machine learning to help advisors build, manage and automate their compliance programs, according to Brian Clark, CEO of Ascent.
Clark calls Ascent's Navigator platform "intelligence as a service," which he said "is about taking that domain expertise and leveraging it into a mechanism that really adds value to users on an incremental basis and a holistic basis."
He added, "AI is dependent on domain expertise. It is dependent on data blocks and how you structure all of these components on the back end ultimately to drive value and drive intelligence."
Clark calls artificial intelligence "whatever five years from now we'll think is normal." He believes the next-generation of AI will focus on data and how users manage it. "It's going to take big data, and it's going to make big data useful. You're going to be able to extract real-time, dynamic insights from this information that is then going to assist users in making optimal decisions."
While there's clear potential for AI in helping financial firms manage their compliance burden, Clark warned that "whenever you're talking about what AI can do, it's also important to talk about what it can't do."
