Intelligent Automation: Transformation in a Time of Uncertainty
Roundtable
May 4, 2023 | New York
Companies across industries are investing in automation and artificial intelligence projects that may increase efficiency, boost productivity, and help ensure their long-term success. Executives from business and IT gathered for this roundtable dinner to share their experience and ideas about how their firms can harness the technology.
Participants:
Art Amador, Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, EquBot
Yin Aphinyanaphongs, Director of Operational Data Science & Machine Learning, NYU Langone Health
Jack Berkowitz, Chief Data Officer, ADP
Alex Cook, Senior Vice President & Head of Strategic Capabilities, New York Life
Brian Fallon, Vice President, Data, AI & Automation, IBM
Charles Gagnon, Chief Information Officer, New York Genome Center
Neil Green, Executive Vice President & Chief Digital Officer, Otis
Maria Joanta, Chief Financial Officer, New York Genome Center
Kange Kaneene, Vice President, SAP.iO Foundries North America
Tania Marciano, Senior Vice President, Citi
Suvankar Mazumder, Chief Technology Officer, S&P Global Ratings
Parul Mishra, Vice President, Product Management, IBM Watson Orchestrate
John Napoli, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of firmwide Chief Technology Office (CTO) and Chief Data Officer (CDO), JP Morgan Chase
David Odenath, Global Head of Quantitative Investment Strategies & Solutions, HSBC
Lenora Xhehaj. Senior Vice President, Head of Operational Risk, Voya Investment Management
Bloomberg Participants:
Janet Wu, Anchor & Reporter, Bloomberg
Ritika Gupta, On-Air Reporter & Producer, Bloomberg
Roundtable Highlights
After introductions, Janet Wu, Anchor & Reporter, Bloomberg asked participants about their top automation projects. Jumping right in, Brian Fallon, Vice President, Data, AI & Automation, IBM, spoke about addressing the “hot topics” for clients; “the noise around ChatGPT and what are you doing around AI,” as well as the cost of managing cloud. He noted the efficiencies new technology has created for IBM. Parul Mishra, Vice President, Product Management, IBM Watson Orchestrate said enterprises are dealing with big problems that ChatGPT can solve.
John Napoli, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of firmwide Chief Technology Office (CTO) and Chief Data Officer (CDO), JP Morgan Chase talked about commercializing software, and OpenAI taking the risk. “It’s interesting to see the curve that we’re on.”
On substantiating large-language models, Jack Berkowitz, Chief Data Officer, ADP explained how public perception demands companies be discreet about what they call it, and that customers don’t realize they’re using it. “If you get paid by us, you have our app. That’s generative AI.” The big challenge, according to Charles Gagnon, Chief Information Officer, New York Genome Center is for the technology to keep up with the speed at which data is generated and how fast the models integrate it.
Suvankar Mazumder, Chief Technology Officer, S&P Global Ratings heralded AI for idea generation and verifying solutions, but noted the risks. “Use case is the main thing. You have to know what you’re using it for.”
What about trustworthiness? asked Fallon. In a highly regulated industry, Berkowitz said his company has been monitoring their platforms for bias and other ethics issues since 2019.
Automated data validation is the challenge noted by Lenora Xhehaj, Senior Vice President, Head of Operational Risk, Voya Investment Management. Security has been problematic, making guardrails necessary, said Tania Marciano, Senior Vice President, Citi, “particularly with open, public tools that are super easy to get into.”
Marciano said she was curious whether IBM, with its legacy as a highly regulated enterprise, was bringing its Watson AI into a new generation of security. “That’s exactly what we’re doing,” Mishra responded, adding that initially apprehensive employees quickly became comfortable with using natural language in AI to get things done.
Ritika Gupta, On-Air Reporter & Producer, Bloomberg asked participants about potential winners and losers in the tech space, with the impact of global regulations factored in. The discussion focused in on issues like state-by-state variations, noted by Alex Cook, Senior Vice President & Head of Strategic Capabilities, New York Life, who also brought up job losses, the economy and society at large. “We’re on an exponential curve. It’s going to be very interesting to see where all this leads.”
What happens if technology fails? Kange Kaneene, Vice President, SAP.iO Foundries North America spoke to bias, “which is embedded in everything.” Yin Aphinyanaphongs, Director of Operational Data Science & Machine Learning, NYU Langone Health said that’s why the FDA’s newest guidance on software for medical devices is concerned with automation bias. “Their concern is that clinicians are going to look at this and throw out their thinking, especially in time-critical situations.”
Neil Green, Executive Vice President & Chief Digital Officer, Otis described how technology aids elevator maintenance by applying algorithms to sounds and vibrations to narrow down locations and possibilities to “really speed up the process,” as well as extracting “tribal knowledge” from experienced mechanics.
On using models, Cook said success today requires “being very conversant in multiple insurance and financial products.” Maria Joanta, Chief Financial Officer, New York Genome Center said the organization, very recently, sequenced the entire genome of human beings, creating massive data sets that might be used to determine insurance eligibility, wondering, “When will we start seeing that whole genome replacing metrics?” Cook said he doesn’t think it’s far off. “That’s the perfect data set.”
Art Amador, Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, EquBot said that even their great data scientists may not fully understand the results of quantitative finance. “We’re trying to educate them more on the finance side.”
This Bloomberg roundtable was Proudly Sponsored By
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