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Home • Money & Career

Despite Everyone's Fears, AI Won't Replace Humans, Morgan Stanley Says

Although AI has its place, a new report from the financial institution says customers still prefer a human touch.
Despite Everyone's Fears, AI Won't Replace Humans, Morgan Stanley Says
Female engineer working on digital tablet and digitalization display in the production area. She had a development program for use in the automobile industry. Production improvement concepts.
By Jasmine Browley · Updated May 16, 2023

AI is poised to forever change the way we work, but a new report says that’s nothing to fear. At least not yet.

According to a survey of nearly 1,000 investors and financial advisors by Morgan Stanley’s wealth management department, financial advisors say the technology will lead to big changes in investing, but customers still prefer humans to handle their affairs.

“While A.I. is clearly groundbreaking, and we are just scratching the surface of its potential impact within financial services,” Jeff McMillan, head of analytics, data, and innovation at Morgan Stanley’s wealth management arm, said in a statement.

The general consensus from those surveyed shared they aren’t comfortable placing all their trust in tech completely devoid of human guidance. There was also a large group of investment firms that have tapped A.I., as 63% of investors said they would rather work with a company that leverages the technology versus a firm that doesn’t.

“People want to be as knowledgeable as the smartest person” at Morgan Stanley, McMillan said in an interview with CNBC at the time. “This is like having our chief strategy officer sitting next to you when you’re on the phone with a client.”

The financial sector isn’t the only industry embracing AI.

As ESSENCE previously reported, Codeword, a tech-marketing & PR agency, announced earlier this month they’d added two new entrants to its internship program. The catch? The “interns” are completely computer-generated.

“There’s a lot of talk and fear and hype about how new AI tools will integrate with creative teams,” said Kyle Monson, partner at Codeword in a news release. “As an agency that straddles the creative and technology worlds, we want to explore what human-AI collaborations can look like. And we’ll do it in public, so our team and our community can learn from this experiment.”