Finance Monthly March 2019 Edition

34 www.finance-monthly.com EXPERT INSIGHT - MACHINE LEARNING Machine learning is rapidly entering the finance industry and there is no intention of it being a fleeting visit. More than a quarter (27%) of organisations surveyed by Gartner expect to adopt some form of artificial intelligence or machine learning in their finance department by 2020. With so much data, from so many sources, machine learning is often the only real way financial professionals can successfully sift through the noise in a world of information chaos. Jonathan Barrett, Managing Director of Dataminr tells us more about it. Before delving into the details of exactly how machine learning can benefit financial professionals, it’s important to have a clear understanding of exactly what artificial intelligence (AI) is, what machine learning is, and how the two fit together. As stated by Oxford University, AI is concerned with getting computers to perform tasks that currently are only feasible for humans. Simply, it is human intelligence manifested by a machine. Within AI exists machine learning. This is when a computer is programmed to make decisions, learn from outcomes and adjust, in a way of self-improving, according to their environment. MACHINE LEARNING: EMPOWERING THE WORLD OF FINANCE Jonathan Barrett, Managing Director of Dataminr About Jonathan Barrett: Jonathan Barrett is European Managing Director at Dataminr, an AI-enabled platform that discovers, distills and alerts on activity across publicly available data sources, enabling professionals to know and act on high impact events earlier. Jonathan has over 25 years of experience in the tech industry and is passionate about transforming businesses that have the potential to change the world. www.dataminr.com