Government pledges £300m investment in AI technology

The use of AI in the credit sector is increasing rapidly. In January, Credit Strategy’s Captains of Industry survey found that 43 percent of company decision makers believe it is likely that AI will replace call centre roles across their businesses in the next five years.

Participants, interviewed by Ipsos MORI, were chairmen, chief executives, managing directors, chief operating officers, finance directors or other executive board directors and members of the Credit 500.

In its announcement, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy confirmed around £300m of new private sector investment in AI research and development.

The deal includes measures to ensure innovators and tech entrepreneurs are based in the UK, with investment in the high-level post-graduate skills needed to capitalise on technology’s potential.

It includes funding for training for 8,000 specialist computer science teachers, 1,000 government-funded ‘AI PhDs’ by 2025 and a commitment to develop a global Turing Fellowship programme to “attract and retain the best research talent in AI to the UK”.

Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Matt Hancock said: “The UK must be at the forefront of emerging technologies, pushing boundaries and harnessing innovation to change people’s lives for the better.

“Artificial Intelligence is at the centre of our plans to make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a digital business. We have a great track record and are home to some of the world’s biggest names in AI like Deepmind, Swiftkey and Babylon, but there is so much more we can do.”

In the credit profession, much of the trend is towards using the technology for some contact roles, such as chatbots, and analytics, along with other aspects such as credit control.

But while 35 percent believe it is likely that credit control roles will also be replaced by AI in the same time frame, 60 percent of Captains of Industry respondents expect to increase the headcount of employees working within IT, cyber security and fraud prevention in the next 12 months. Of those 60 percent, 71 percent of the captains are derived from the finance, banking and insurance industries.