Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the biggest commercial opportunity today and will boost global economic output by 14 per cent by 2030, according to research by PwC. The study found that global GDP will be 14 per cent higher, or the equivalent of an additional $15.7 trillion.

More than half of this economic gain will come from “labour productivity improvements”, which could mean reductions in human labour as it is replaced by AI machinery. However, part of the economic productivity increase will also come from consumer demand for AI-enabled product enhancements. The study found that China and North America are likely to see the biggest economic gains from AI. Other key findings from the study include:

• North America will experience productivity gains faster than China initially, driven by its readiness for AI and the high fraction of jobs that are susceptible to replacement by more-productive technologies.
• China will begin to pull ahead of the US’s AI productivity gains in 10 years, after it catches up on a slower build up to the technology and expertise needed.
• Europe and Developed Asia will also experience significant economic gains from AI (9-12 per cent of GDP in 2030).

AI in financial services

PwC's analysis also identified that the biggest gains will be in retail, financial services and healthcare. In financial services, increased productivity through AI will be seen in personalised financial planning, fraud detection & anti-money laundering, as well as transaction automation.

The message from this study for large corporates is that companies should now be looking at the opportunities in AI, or face being beaten by competitors on turn-around times, overhead costs and customer experience. The use of AI and machine learning technologies is already being seen in the financial sphere in algorithms used in FX trading. Corporate treasurers will see more AI technologies change their processes in the next decade, in transaction management, KYC, AML and other cash management processes. It's quite possible that a corporate treasurer will come up with the next big user-case for intelligent machines.