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In a recent episode of Broker Daily Uncut, AI experts Silvio Giorgio and Christopher Borg discussed how AI is reshaping the way brokers operate and what the future holds.
Helping drive this change is changing consumer habits. Before we can unpack the industry impacts, said Giorgio, the effect AI has on us as human beings must first be analysed.
What has been described as the shift from “digital prime” to “AI prime”, the way people are using technology is evolving rapidly.
For some time, consumers have been digital prime. This refers to the way we interact with the internet, mobile devices, computers, apps, and so on.
What has been witnessed in recent times is less of a reliance on these technologies as consumer interactions begin to transition to AI.
“The biggest shift in what we see is we’re going to be spending less time on websites. And a lot of our interaction is going to be with AI interfaces,” Giorgio said.
“Especially generative AI, [it] is converging. We’re able to chat with it, we’re able to talk to it with voice, it can create images for us, it can create video. All of that is now converging more and more into models that we use every day.”
The vast adoption of AI in the broking industry is complemented by this shift in consumer habits.
Borrowers are leveraging AI to broaden their knowledge base, said Borg, more than anticipated.
Despite the rapid adoption of AI in the broking industry, there are still plenty relying on legacy systems.
Giorgio expects these systems to slowly phase out as new AI-powered processes take form and organisations realise the benefits.
“Especially with finances, a lot of the processes that sit in the back end are still fairly manual and require a lot of documentation. But I expect that to accelerate and I do expect there’s going to be a bit of catch up in those industries,” Giorgio said.
The next frontier for these organisations is “bridging the gap” between the old and the new.
As highlighted by Borg, every finance and banking system is different and some are more advanced than others.
Without having blanket adoption across the board, there are going to be some trailblazers and others slower to catch up.
Borg said that during this transition, there will be jobs made obsolete. Those who will thrive in the new era of working are those who proactively upskill and educate themselves.
Brokers, while not likely to be replaced by AI anytime soon, may be left behind if they don’t embrace the changes.
Human connection still matters
Broking is a relationship-based role. AI won’t replace that aspect. Instead, effective brokers will leverage AI systems to eliminate more of the administrative tasks and provide themselves more time for those face-to-face client interactions.
Those who consistently strive to build and develop client relationships will thrive, while the rest will sink, said Borg.
“That transactional type of broker that doesn’t have a relationship with its clients is going to probably see a big change in their operation,” said Borg.
“What we’ll see is those that are having really good relationships are going to thrive because they’re going to utilise AI tools. But they haven’t lost their client base and their job is secure because everyone wants to deal with them because it’s a relationship thing for them.”
While the industry is at a tipping point and it may leave some brokers scared for the future, those who embrace the change will continue to thrive.
Giorgio said that “the more we use AI, the more humans will want human connection.”
This is especially true for brokers. While industry leaders will continue to invest in AI, brokers have an opportunity to benefit from the advancements while retaining the value proposition that keeps market share increasing – relationships.
“We’re going to have to almost run a two-speed approach to this and human interaction is going to be more valuable. We’re going to actively seek it,” said Giorgio.
“More of us will seek the human interaction and that will become particularly important when we’re making big, big decisions in our lives. Buying a house, getting a loan, your financial advice, they’re all big decisions.
“And there is this expectation over time that we will have humans augmented with AI supporting us.”
To listen to the full episode of Broker Daily Uncut, click below:
