By Nigel Cannings, CTO at Intelligent Voice
Fraud is a dominant issue within financial services, providing consistent challenges. Outdated solutions will not answer this issue, instead, businesses must adopt innovative approaches to combat organised fraud directly. The new technology integrating AI and speech recognition facilitates a more adaptable anti-fraud strategy, focusing on early detection with minimal human involvement. Software such as Intelligent Voice’s LexiQal is driving the success of this technology, drastically improving fraud prevention for a range of businesses within financial services, while giving the explainability required by regulators.
Speech Recognition, Machine Learning, and Fraud Prevention
Processing audio and video data was previously a time-consuming and resource-heavy endeavour. However, the application of Speech AI and machine learning is challenging this perception. Implementing these systems can revolutionise the treatment of audio data for a business, unlocking new information and providing enhanced anti-fraud protection.
How do Speech AI and machine learning work?
Speech AI is an umbrella term covering a range of processes, with some of the most common being Conversational AI, NLP (Natural Language Processing), and ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition). These processes can provide a comprehensive anti-fraud strategy when implemented in collaboration with machine learning. Machine learning refers to the process of creating automated, adaptable technology. Instead of requiring manual input to change and update its algorithms, machine learning uses its collected or inputted data to identify patterns and changes. It can then update its algorithms without human intervention.
When utilised collaboratively, Speech AI and machine learning provide a constantly evolving anti-fraud strategy that can keep pace with a rapidly changing crime. As a result, companies can remain updated with large and small-scale fraudulent operations.
Which indicators of fraud can AI recognise?
Speech AI can detect speech, language, and behavioural features. Developed in collaboration with law enforcement behavioural experts, technology such as LexiQal identifies indicators such as hedging, negation, or hesitancy, alongside semantics such as negativity, aggression, and over-emotional responses. Instead of customer service agents needing to keep these potential indicators in mind, AI works in the background of customer interactions to alert staff to possible fraudulent intent.
The Transformation of Fraud Prevention Strategy
With the accelerated digitisation of customer interactions (influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic), Speech AI is vital in creating a comprehensive anti-fraud strategy. Face-to-face customer interactions are far less common, making it harder for customer service agents to recognise any body language that could suggest misguided intent. Resultantly, businesses need to be able to detect fraud based on audio data alone.
Here, Speech AI and machine learning become significantly important. With the ability to run AI-based anti-fraud protection in the background of digital customer interactions, the critical indicators of fraudulent intent can be detected as early as the first phone call. As a result, customer service agents do not need to bear the burden of fraud prevention. Instead, they can focus on providing a high-quality service uninterrupted.
GPU-powered transcription (supported by NLP) also grants new opportunities for the organisation and application of data. The automatic structuring of audio and video data offers a more comprehensive anti-fraud cover on both the trading floor and in online meetings. In addition, the information collected by Speech AI provides machine learning systems with the material required to keep pace with organised fraud, giving feedback to speech recognition systems. Overall, this creates the evolving cycle of fraud detection delivering the future of combatting finance fraud.
Additional Benefits of the Application of AI in Financial Services
The advantages of Speech AI do not end with fraud prevention strategies. Audio data also holds the potential for improved sales enablement, regulatory compliance, and customer protection.
Sales Enablement
By utilising Speech AI to detect semantics, businesses open the door to new information concerning the customer experience. By identifying positive and negative responses to sales techniques, businesses remain informed on how to proceed with recommending their services. As a result, companies can adapt their sales enablement strategy to better suit their market – a change that can generate an increased understanding of customer needs and boost sales.
Regulatory Compliance
Rules and regulations within the finance sector are becoming increasingly complex, especially as companies continue rapidly digitising their customer interactions. More effective audio data management ensures that businesses have the correct records to provide evidence of proper practice, potentially avoiding unnecessary fines.
Customer Protection
The finance sector faces increased pressure to increase customer protection, ensuring individuals are not ill-advised or pressured into financially threatening arrangements. Finance companies must ensure they care for their most vulnerable customers to fulfil these demands. Speech AI can detect customer vulnerability, identifying confusion, disorientation, and susceptibility. Customers can receive increased support to ensure they make informed decisions based on this information.
Data acquired through Speech AI provides the most comprehensive and adaptable fraud prevention and offers additional valuable benefits to financial services. For example, by automating the detection of fraudulent intent, customer service agents can provide the best possible service without distraction, maintaining high standards of practice. Finance companies can also apply audio data to sales enablement strategy, regulatory compliance, and customer protection, making Speech AI the essential technology on the market today.
