Financial services leaders grapple with AI adoption concerns

Lucidworks has released new financial services findings from its second annual Generative AI Global Benchmark Study. The study gathered input from over 2,500 leaders involved in AI technology decision-making worldwide. The report explores key areas of generative AI investment and organizations' progress in adopting generative AI.

Close to 50% of financial services leaders had a positive view of AI in 2023. Despite this initial excitement, the implementation of planned initiatives in 2024 has been sluggish. Only one in four AI projects have been deployed, similar to many of the other industries surveyed. In 2023, the most common expected impact of Gen AI for financial services was business ops improvement. The majority of deployed initiatives followed suit in 2024 and were primarily focused on G&A cost reduction. However, the industry reported below average cost and revenue benefits.

Financial services mirror global industries with high concerns around data security (45%) and accuracy (43%). Across the board, concerns around security, response accuracy, and costs have forced most businesses to slow down their planned initiatives and be more strategic about the balance between cost and benefit. Security worries have tripled, accuracy concerns have grown fivefold, and transparency issues have quadrupled since 2023.

The 2024 Generative AI Global Benchmark Study also includes the following findings:

Investment Slowdown: Global AI spending plans are down sharply, with only 63% planning increases (vs. 93% last year). USA-based organizations remain above average with 69% planning to increase AI spend across all industries.

Slow Progress: Delayed deployment and low success rates are commonplace with only 25% of planned projects fully implemented across all industries. This lag is stalling anticipated ROI, with 42% of companies yet to see significant benefits from generative AI initiatives.

Spending Flattens: Across all organizations, 36% of leaders plan to keep spending flat, compared to only 6% in last year’s survey.

China’s Sharp Decline: ​​Only 49% of Chinese leaders plan to increase AI spending in 2024, a massive drop from 100% in 2023.

Commercial LLMs Dominate: Nearly eight in 10 companies use commercial LLMs and 21% have opted for open source only.

Competitive Concerns: A third of business leaders feel like they’re falling behind competitors despite almost everyone struggling to implement this new technology.

“Financial services leaders have recognized the immense potential of generative AI year over year. However, concerns around data security and accuracy are holding back deployment,” said Mike Sinoway, CEO, Lucidworks. “A responsible AI-powered search solution must balance personalization with stringent data protection, adhering to regulations and prioritizing client trust. As models specialize to the industry and organizations partner with search experts to build AI strategies, we anticipate financial services organizations will see more cost and revenue benefits in the near future.”