MNGT361 Emerging Technology Essay 2

Artificial Intelligence

October 27, 2022

There have been several warnings about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology

could change the workforce, particularly for tasks that are simple to automate. However,

managers at all levels will need to change to the age of intelligent machines. The truth is that in

the near future, AI will be able to perform the administrative duties that take up a large portion of

managers' time making the process faster, better, and cheaper. AI and improvements in

technology affects every industry in some way; some are impacted to a much greater degree than

others. Through my experience, I have been exposed to AI on a daily basis as a student, and as

an employee in the retail industry, and will continue to use AI in my future career path in the

finance industry. AI has been a benefit to the consumer and in some cases to the people behind

the line. However, in some instances there are tradeoffs, while improvements to technology and

AI may make the job more streamlined and efficient, it could also cost employees their jobs

because being replaced by machinery is a great fear for many individuals.

First, what exactly is AI? “AI refers to the general ability of computers to emulate

human thought and perform tasks in real-world environments. (CU-CAI). AI can be compared to

a computer or artificial person completing the duties that a worker might currently carry out in

each business. Additionally, AI may be defined as a collection of several analytic tools that

collectively attempt to imitate life and has matured to a set of analytic tools that facilitate solving

problems which were previously difficult or impossible to solve (Gordon). As a student at

Towson University in the College of Business and Economics, I have experienced the use of AI

on a weekly basis. For example, some of my college classes used a assignment platform called

McGraw Hill Connect. This platform uses AI since it would provide suggestions based on

concepts to improve on due to performance, uses scoring systems, and enhances learning.
Additionally, the platform used a chat robot to conduct mini sims and formulate responses. In my

current position working in the operations and accounting department at Route One Apparel, I

am exposed to AI on a daily basis. In order to improve internal accounting operations like

purchasing, invoicing, purchase orders, expense reports, accounts payable, and receivables, AI

enables the processing and automated authorization of documents; some software’s I use that are

artificially intelligent include QuickBooks and Tableau in which automations can be made to

make the process consistent and manage the systems. Moreover, in my future career in the

finance industry, I will be exposed to AI as well. The financial services industry (FSI) faces

intense industry rules and is characterized by intense competition. These market forces have a

big impact on how technology is accepted within the sector, therefore financial institutions must

always look for new ways to set themselves apart through technology. A strong technology that

enables computers to predict future events by utilizing historical data sets to boost efficiency and

enable new customer experiences, AI, has a golden chance as a result of these dynamics.

Because of this, the majority of financial services executives believe that within the next few

years, AI will play a crucial role in success (AI in Financial Services, n.d.).

There are advantages and disadvantages of AI in my current industry and future industry;

retail being current and finance being future. In my current retail industry, I am a part of a small

business and help with operations, accounting, and customer service. Specifically in the retail

industry, AI is revolutionizing the retail sector by making it simpler for you to keep customers

happy. For example, when there is an overload of customer service need, my company uses the

AI technology of chatbots whose capabilities can assist customers with retail navigation and

even make highly individualized product recommendations. Another example of AI I am

exposed to at Route One Apparel would be the Shopify software that helps to automate orders
and perform inventory and customer account audits. Moreover, with working in retail and using

software’s such as Shopify and Tableau, you can more readily foresee future market and

customer wants with AI, which will help you better serve your clients' needs; for example, with

AI, you may forecast customer behavior by looking at past consumer behavior patterns.

Moreover, a disadvantage of AI in the retail industry is that data is sometimes too vague to be

easily translated into AI. Additionally, those who design algorithms frequently lack access to

clean data or are unsure of which data is most crucial. Furthermore, in my future finance career,

AI will have advantages and disadvantages. First, advantages of AI in the finance industry

include better insight to financial data, handle larger data, and meet compliance and eliminate

fraud in the process. AI can give the finance organization a better understanding of the financial

data, which helps to explain these benefits. It will help them in developing a positive strategy

that will be advantageous to both them and their clients. Additionally, the capacity of AI for

handling enormous amounts of data is one of its many great advantages for the finance sector. It

has a huge advantage over the manual procedure since it can handle massive amounts of data at

once. Finally, ensuring compliance with the regulations is one of the financial industry's main

priorities. If the industry fails to comply with the regulations, it faces financial penalties, the

closure of particular businesses, and process unpredictability. Here, AI can assist in achieving

compliance and eradicating fraud. Moving forward, disadvantages of AI in the finance industry

include implementing the proper algorithm and high costs. Although AI produces results more

quickly and flawlessly, its accuracy is dependent on the algorithm it uses. A bad algorithm or

command can provide unneeded mistakes and inaccurate results and therefore, it is crucial to

implement the method correctly. Moreover, as we have seen, AI has numerous advantages for
the finance industry, but it also comes at a significant cost; some financial companies might not

be able to afford this large, pricey model.

In conclusion, AI plays a role in every industry; the use of intelligent approaches and

AI in industry has evolved into a very difficult problem now and will be of utmost significance

in the future. Moreover, the amount of data produced today, by both humans and machines,

considerably exceeds the capacity of humans to comprehend, understand, and base complex

decisions on that data. In other words, all computer learning is based on artificial intelligence,

which is also the future of all complicated decision-making.

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