However, AI in finance has started to become a bit louder recently. I came across a recent article about how financial leaders are embracing automation and analytics with unexpected urgency while reading an overview of how… CFOs report that AI is transforming finance when strategy leads the way.
What astounds me is how much CFOs continually emphasize what most Americans fail to fully understand: AI is not magic. It only pays off when the company knows why they wanted to use it in the first place.
What is strange is how uneven the change has been. Some teams are even starting to use predictive models to change the way they think about cash flow cycles and scenario planning, talking about decade-old concepts found in examinations of how modern financial groups are challenging outdated, reactionary metrics with forward-looking insight, and think pieces including A breakdown of what AI means for experimentation in finance departments.
However, there are still others dealing with legacy spreadsheets and legacy systems that just won’t die.
It’s weirdly split up as half the team gets sucked into standalone prophecy, and the other half fights ancient macros.
One statement that made me stop and think was a more fundamental consideration of how finance roles will shift as AI takes over repetitive work, an area that was also examined in a conversation about How modern finance teams will need analytical and interpretive skills More than ever.
It got me thinking about whether we are ready to switch mindsets. Numbers have always been important, but now the story behind the numbers is more important for once, and that’s a whole different muscle.
Another theme in all of this is trust. There’s also an ongoing debate about how much responsibility AI systems should take in making recommendations to companies (a concern that was recently raised in blistering analysis of what it means for financial guidance to be automated but under human oversight, like this A perspective on scaling AI-based advice without breaking user trust).
The truth is, I’m concerned – speed is good if it’s not a lack of judgment.
From my perspective, this seems to be a time when financial leaders are trying to run two races at once: updating the engine while driving the car.
If I had to offer my point, it’s this: AI in finance will be amazing when companies stop treating it as a shiny thing, and start seeing it as part of their strategic backbone.
Until then, we will continue to see flashes of brilliance interspersed with growing pains.
