[Economic Essay Contest] Finance in the age of AI: Why trust matters more than efficiency

Major financial centers are investing heavily in AI, but a gap remains between technological capability and user experience, as efficiency is often mistaken for service quality. Financial institutions must evaluate both benefits and risks of AI to ensure long-term growth, as seen with MoMo in Vietnam and Bank of America's Erica.

Have you ever felt frustrated after spending hours interacting with a banking chatbot, only to receive the same repetitive response: “Sorry, I do not understand your request”? This highlights a core tension in the digital era: While technology operates with remarkable speed, it often fails to truly understand human needs. Currently, major financial centers are investing heavily in artificial intelligence AI . Despite this investment, a gap remains between technological capability and user experience, as efficiency is often mistaken for service quality. To remain sustainable, financial institutions must evaluate both the benefits and risks of AI to ensure long-term growth. Accelerating services or sacrificing empathy? It is undeniable that AI has driven significant advancements in financial services. One clear illustration is MoMo in Vietnam, which utilizes AI to automatically categorize consumer spending and enable facial-recognition payments in only three seconds. Similarly, Bank of America's virtual assistant Erica has processed more than 1.5 billion interactions while proactivel