The Second Search Engine War: Mazars’ Chief Economist asks how Chat GPT will change the world and financial advice?

As we look ahead to the near-future, George Lagarias, Chief Economist at Mazars takes a brief look at Chat GPT and the potential implications on financial advice.

Ultimately exploring how AI can alter how we go about our every day has clear implications for the development of financial advice profession as Lagarias comments below.

George Lagarias, Chief Economist at Mazars says: “Markets didn’t move much last week, as investors mull over the possibility that the present rally may conflict with the harsh realities of rising interest rates and a swiftly decelerating economy. However, one event stood out. Google’s stock lost 10%, nearly $100 Billion in market cap, after it’s Bard AI made an error. 

“Chat GPT is already changing the world. It’s threatening to reshuffle the search engine market, and with it change marketing for millions of firms globally.  Chat GPT can write original viral social media posts, essays, books and virtually any content in a matter of minutes. It can also write code. And don’t think that the Bot doesn’t have an opinion. 

“Anthropomorphism drives technology. Alexa and Siri are algorithms with human names pretending to be helpers with human voices. In science fiction, the ultimate goal is an anthropomorphic robot. ChatGPT’s original and human-like busincontent can interact with humans better than any of its predecessor.  

“The implications of a machine that can write good content, and keeps learning, are momentous. Will a human-like AI succeed where dull robots failed? Can algorithms talk to investors in a convincing way?

“Experience and research suggest that financial advice is a ‘Trust’ profession, and algorithms simply can’t generate trust the way humans do, as many a helpdesk and other simple services are finding out. Financial advice and investment involve complex questions and answers and volatile emotions. AI simply can’t interact that way. If anything, our culture has created a healthy distrust around giving too much power to thinking machines. 

Financial advice will, probably, remain human-centric for the time being. But make no mistake, Chat GPT and its offspring will push practitioners away from platitudes and generalised content and towards a deeper understanding of clients and markets.”