It’s no secret that AI is becoming even more key to business success, and over the last two years, 52% of companies accelerated their AI adoption plans due to the COVID crisis. Its use is continuing to grow and expand across sectors, with a wealth of different technologies now underpinned by algorithms. From chatbots able to discuss online orders with customers to banks being able to verify the identity of someone trying to open a new bank account digitally.
At the same time, consumers are also becoming more aware of AI and what it can achieve, from the everyday to the obscure – just last month, the Oxford Union heard a debate from an artificial intelligence engine. So as consumers gain an increased understanding about the technology, its broader acceptance is likely to continue to follow. But businesses have to ensure they get it right to keep consumers onside and to truly enhance processes and tasks.
How can businesses better prepare to seize the opportunities that AI holds and what should their priorities be in 2022 and beyond?
Using AI to protect sensitive consumer data
Consumers can now conduct many of their day-to-day activities completely online, from opening a bank account to shopping for groceries, and from booking a holiday to visiting the doctor. But with this increased virtual footprint comes more data and a higher risk for consumers. This is especially true in healthcare where consumer data and health records are far more sensitive and with 4 in 10 GP appointments still not face-to-face, the digital revolution of healthcare will undoubtedly continue into 2022.
As such, to prevent instances of prescription fraud, for example, online medical providers will have to implement robust ways of proving a patient is who they claim to be. This can be done by implementing AI-based identity verification. When the patient first sets up an account, they upload a selfie and a photo of their government-issued ID. These are compared to ensure the person in the selfie is the same as on the ID – with AI, this can be done in mere seconds. Then, in all future uses of the app, the patient only needs to upload a new selfie for it to be compared to the original selfie and the ID on file. With every image uploaded, the AI continues to learn and improve, making it a more seamless process every time. This type of AI-based identity verification will become increasingly important in the healthcare space, whereby security cannot be sacrificed, but organisations can’t afford to hinder the customer experience by slowing the process down.
Using AI to safeguard young consumers
Identity verification technology will also have a role to play when it comes to safeguarding young people. As we move into a new era of accountability, any online business operating in an industry where potential harm could be caused to minors, from adult content to selling alcohol, needs to seriously address how they prevent underage individuals from accessing their site. Not only because it now forms part of the Online Safety Bil,l but because it’s the right thing to do.
Our research on this topic showed that 54% of UK age-restricted sites have been unable to prevent minors from accessing their products or services, but this will no longer be acceptable in 2022. By using the same kind of AI-based identity verification tool, companies can put in place rigorous controls that work quickly and effectively to ensure that the person trying to buy alcohol, for example, is legally allowed to do so. It adds an extra important layer to protect minors, but doesn’t hinder the experience for those users of legal age.
Prioritising the elimination of bias
But as AI is adopted for more business functions and data analysis, AI bias has become increasingly concerning. Bias can impact AI algorithms in numerous ways to skew results and provide information that is not fair or objective. This damages the credibility of AI technology and has the potential to stifle its growth when consumer trust is needed for it to advance. The future of AI technology will rely on organisations mitigating bias through technology diversity initiatives. For example, a dataset that used to be considered the benchmark for testing facial recognition software had data that was 70% male and 80% white — not representative of the greater population. Even if sensitive variables such as gender, ethnicity and sexual identity are excluded, AI systems learn to make decisions based on training data, which may contain misrepresented human decisions or represent historical or social inequities.
While diversity and inclusion is discussed from a hiring and corporate perspective, it must also be a critical component of product and technology development. To get ahead of this issue, CTOs should be asking their technology providers how their algorithms are trained. This will put pressure on identity vendors to ensure their solutions’ AI algorithms are built to represent the broader population.
As 2022 gets underway, many businesses will continue to battle the ongoing uncertainty caused by the pandemic, but will look to technology to steady the ship. AI offers an enormous opportunity to businesses to reconsider their offering and provide a better experience for consumers. However, to do this, it must become ethical, be used in a way that protects the data of consumers and enhances an existing process. AI will continue to play a part in our lives this year and beyond so now is the time to make sure it is fit for purpose.
