4 ms·

For those in the finance space, are you actually seeing any real AI tools being used? Like for actual operational tasks? I've really only seen it used for rese

by Havoc 6mo ago

For those in the finance space, are you actually seeing any real AI tools being used? Like for actual operational tasks? I've really only seen it used for research / exploration thus far. Either for economic research slide deck or for exploring trading hypothesis

iewjj 6mo ago
Nope If anything firms are pulling back (I know someone closely who works at blackrock).
- biophysboy 6mo ago
  pulling back as in setting more realistic token budgets, or something more drastic? I'm curious
  - iewjj 6mo ago
    Stopped using them altogether in the context of productivity - in essence they’re useless.
    - roughly 6mo ago
      I can believe that. Gambler’s Ruin gets costly when you’ve actually got money on the line.
- semiquaver 6mo ago
  I don’t just know someone who works in finance, I am someone who works in finance and I say you’re wrong.
  - iewjj 6mo ago
    [flagged]
    - infecto 6mo ago
      Let’s state the obvious. You have an account that was just created. Are posting specific details internal to a company with what is typically a biased area. And now throwing vulgarities out. No credibility.
      - iewjj 6mo ago
        Don’t really care fella. If you don’t believe it screenshot my posts and revisit in 6 months. I’d put money behind what I say, would you?
        deleted 6mo ago
        [deleted]
- kx_x 6mo ago
  In what context? For research and theses evaluations, we're observing that firms - of names we all know - are bullish and even eager to try AI products. Regarding automated asset management and the likes, indeed there's much more apprehension.
timbaboon 6mo ago
Seen it used in some of the fraud models (I work in insurance). So that's both from the perspective of people trying to claim fraudulently and from suppliers over charging. I can't say how much of a lift we actually get vs existing ML models
OkayPhysicist 6mo ago
On the spend management side of things, I've found pretty remarkable success in letting LLMs check "does this receipt match this reimbursement request and based on all the information about the user, the request, and our policy, is it appropriately allocated to appropriate GL, Location, Department, and Project codes?" If the verification step fails, it kicks it back and the user can either override it (which gets it flagged for AP review), or fix it. It does substantially better than the naive Bayes classifier I was using before.
- ofjcihen 6mo ago
  I’m not saying your implementation is bad or anything but my visceral reaction to this was “I’m glad I’m not on the other side of that”
  - infecto 6mo ago
    What is your point? This is pretty normal expense management in any company setting. I don’t know what is so bad about being on the other side of that. Hope I am not too inflammatory by asking what is the point but genuinely you pointed it out like it’s some archaic process flow but it’s part of almost every expense system.
    - ofjcihen 6mo ago
      I guess my current company’s processes may be easier to deal with than others. That or my position affords me some extra catering to. The system is currently using a simple app to submit expenses and any issues gets a simple human chat request and a call if requested. They try to avoid kicking anything back and if they do they make sure it’s reviewed first to make sure that it’s needed and to make sure the reason is understood. Our company is also very large so I’m not sure how they manage but they do. People rave about the process instead of hating it.
      - infecto 6mo ago
        Thanks for the thoughtful reply. To add some color… most expense systems are setup so that the user has to input a couple fields like the category or GL code. Some of the fields might be auto populated. Some companies might not care about the classification but usually the intent is to capture things like travel or software etc. What was described earlier is really not painful for users most of the time but a LLM helps automate so much of it these days.
infecto 6mo ago
Yes. On the accounting side agents can handle a lot of the low value work like recons and other ledger activity pretty well. On the investment side I think like you pointed out it’s going to be a lot of research, industry, company, macro etc. Value in letting run on top of the data you have and put together ideas at a quicker pace than a human can. There is still a human in the loop but it can do a nice job of lining up thought you might have otherwise missed.
- Havoc 6mo ago
  What does the integration look like on accounting? Is this a tool provided by the accounting software provider? I'm in that space so naturally interested in what people are up to :)
  - j_w 6mo ago
    Likely "dump all your data into our system then we provide you AI tools." Typically how it goes with most fintech startups.
apaprocki 6mo ago
We’re integrating AI tooling into the Bloomberg Terminal for everyone to use. https://www.bloomberg.com/professional/insights/press-announcement/meet-askb-a-first-look-at-the-future-of-the-bloomberg-terminal-in-the-age-of-agentic-ai/ https://www.bloomberg.com/professional/insights/press-announ...
torben-friis 6mo ago
Pretty good as a dev with finance stakeholders. We have skills in place acting over our automated month closing and it was able to provide manual checks and flag issues, for example. Nowhere near self sufficient tools though, just great to answer questions over the data that would usually take a few hours of custom scripting/excel. I wouldn't trust our stakeholders using AI directly either, being frank.
TacticalCoder 6mo ago
> For those in the finance space, are you actually seeing any real AI tools being used? Like for actual operational tasks? > I've really only seen it used for research / exploration thus far Summaries and translation for sure. Speaking with devs in the field I know that AI tools are used to summarize and extract data from... PDFs. Now, thankfully, LLMs got better at answering "How many 'r' in 'strawberry" and it looks like they're good enough for summarizing PDFs and extracting key numbers but I'd still be cautious. And I've got a friend who's a translator specifically for financial documents: she's a contractor and getting about 1/10th of the work (and 1/10th of the pay) she used to have for now she's only tasked to verify that the translations are correct. Of course she already had lots of tools, way before he LLM era, automating some of her work but she was still billing he use of those tools. Now LLMs are doing nearly all the work and not "for her": it's happening upstream and she only gets the output of the LLMs and has to verify them. And there aren't that many errors.
deleted 6mo ago
[deleted]
bvan 6mo ago
Yes, in very specific cases where I fully understand the methodology(ies) that is (are) applicable, and am able to verify correct implementation. Also, as an enhanced ‘Google search’ to supplement what I have found. I am the skeptical type… yet, so far have been impressed. But, I wouldn’t trust using AI to blindly give me solutions to a problem I couldn’t solve myself, albeit much more slowly.

by Havoc 6mo ago

iewjj 6mo ago

Nope If anything firms are pulling back (I know someone closely who works at blackrock).

biophysboy 6mo ago
pulling back as in setting more realistic token budgets, or something more drastic? I'm curious
- iewjj 6mo ago
  Stopped using them altogether in the context of productivity - in essence they’re useless.
  - roughly 6mo ago
    I can believe that. Gambler’s Ruin gets costly when you’ve actually got money on the line.
semiquaver 6mo ago
I don’t just know someone who works in finance, I am someone who works in finance and I say you’re wrong.
- iewjj 6mo ago
  [flagged]
  - infecto 6mo ago
    Let’s state the obvious. You have an account that was just created. Are posting specific details internal to a company with what is typically a biased area. And now throwing vulgarities out. No credibility.
    - iewjj 6mo ago
      Don’t really care fella. If you don’t believe it screenshot my posts and revisit in 6 months. I’d put money behind what I say, would you?
      - deleted 6mo ago
        [deleted]
kx_x 6mo ago
In what context? For research and theses evaluations, we're observing that firms - of names we all know - are bullish and even eager to try AI products. Regarding automated asset management and the likes, indeed there's much more apprehension.

timbaboon 6mo ago

Seen it used in some of the fraud models (I work in insurance). So that's both from the perspective of people trying to claim fraudulently and from suppliers over charging. I can't say how much of a lift we actually get vs existing ML models

OkayPhysicist 6mo ago

On the spend management side of things, I've found pretty remarkable success in letting LLMs check "does this receipt match this reimbursement request and based on all the information about the user, the request, and our policy, is it appropriately allocated to appropriate GL, Location, Department, and Project codes?" If the verification step fails, it kicks it back and the user can either override it (which gets it flagged for AP review), or fix it. It does substantially better than the naive Bayes classifier I was using before.

ofjcihen 6mo ago
I’m not saying your implementation is bad or anything but my visceral reaction to this was “I’m glad I’m not on the other side of that”
- infecto 6mo ago
  What is your point? This is pretty normal expense management in any company setting. I don’t know what is so bad about being on the other side of that. Hope I am not too inflammatory by asking what is the point but genuinely you pointed it out like it’s some archaic process flow but it’s part of almost every expense system.
  - ofjcihen 6mo ago
    I guess my current company’s processes may be easier to deal with than others. That or my position affords me some extra catering to. The system is currently using a simple app to submit expenses and any issues gets a simple human chat request and a call if requested. They try to avoid kicking anything back and if they do they make sure it’s reviewed first to make sure that it’s needed and to make sure the reason is understood. Our company is also very large so I’m not sure how they manage but they do. People rave about the process instead of hating it.
    - infecto 6mo ago
      Thanks for the thoughtful reply. To add some color… most expense systems are setup so that the user has to input a couple fields like the category or GL code. Some of the fields might be auto populated. Some companies might not care about the classification but usually the intent is to capture things like travel or software etc. What was described earlier is really not painful for users most of the time but a LLM helps automate so much of it these days.

infecto 6mo ago

Yes. On the accounting side agents can handle a lot of the low value work like recons and other ledger activity pretty well. On the investment side I think like you pointed out it’s going to be a lot of research, industry, company, macro etc. Value in letting run on top of the data you have and put together ideas at a quicker pace than a human can. There is still a human in the loop but it can do a nice job of lining up thought you might have otherwise missed.

Havoc 6mo ago
What does the integration look like on accounting? Is this a tool provided by the accounting software provider? I'm in that space so naturally interested in what people are up to :)
- j_w 6mo ago
  Likely "dump all your data into our system then we provide you AI tools." Typically how it goes with most fintech startups.

apaprocki 6mo ago

We’re integrating AI tooling into the Bloomberg Terminal for everyone to use. https://www.bloomberg.com/professional/insights/press-announcement/meet-askb-a-first-look-at-the-future-of-the-bloomberg-terminal-in-the-age-of-agentic-ai/ https://www.bloomberg.com/professional/insights/press-announ...

torben-friis 6mo ago

Pretty good as a dev with finance stakeholders. We have skills in place acting over our automated month closing and it was able to provide manual checks and flag issues, for example. Nowhere near self sufficient tools though, just great to answer questions over the data that would usually take a few hours of custom scripting/excel. I wouldn't trust our stakeholders using AI directly either, being frank.

TacticalCoder 6mo ago

> For those in the finance space, are you actually seeing any real AI tools being used? Like for actual operational tasks? > I've really only seen it used for research / exploration thus far Summaries and translation for sure. Speaking with devs in the field I know that AI tools are used to summarize and extract data from... PDFs. Now, thankfully, LLMs got better at answering "How many 'r' in 'strawberry" and it looks like they're good enough for summarizing PDFs and extracting key numbers but I'd still be cautious. And I've got a friend who's a translator specifically for financial documents: she's a contractor and getting about 1/10th of the work (and 1/10th of the pay) she used to have for now she's only tasked to verify that the translations are correct. Of course she already had lots of tools, way before he LLM era, automating some of her work but she was still billing he use of those tools. Now LLMs are doing nearly all the work and not "for her": it's happening upstream and she only gets the output of the LLMs and has to verify them. And there aren't that many errors.

deleted 6mo ago

[deleted]

bvan 6mo ago

Yes, in very specific cases where I fully understand the methodology(ies) that is (are) applicable, and am able to verify correct implementation. Also, as an enhanced ‘Google search’ to supplement what I have found. I am the skeptical type… yet, so far have been impressed. But, I wouldn’t trust using AI to blindly give me solutions to a problem I couldn’t solve myself, albeit much more slowly.