AI, ML & Data

This study examines the current use of AI in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The report maps a sample of 450 AI start-ups in LMICs in Africa and South and Southeast Asia, most of which are early-stage, home-grown solutions with a focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It also explores trends and challenges…

AI Experiments is a showcase for simple experiments that make it easier for anyone to start exploring machine learning, through pictures, drawings, language, music, and more.

The objective of this paper is to provide guidance for countries to use in considering key options to mitigate risks associated with data protection and privacy, especially related to alternative data, but not to direct adoption of unduly prescriptive legislative provisions.

This two-note series from The Centre for Financial Regulation and Inclusion, highlights the relationship between de-risking, IFFs and capital flows in the context of regional economic hubs. Detailing the concept of a regional economic hub, and exploring the methodologies for determining which countries are hubs within their respective regions.

AI is changing the face of the banking industry. How can banks meet the governance challenges and take advantage of this game-changing technology? To answer this crucial question, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and Temenos have produced this new report, Overseeing AI: Governing Artificial Intelligence in Banking Key findings in the report include: 77% of banking…

This article, breaks down categories of business problems that are commonly handled by ML, and provides actionable advice to begin a ML initiative with the right approach and perspective.

There has never been a better time to achieve impact with data. More and more data is available, computing power is ever increasing, and mathematical techniques and the so-called data science are getting more and more advanced. What’s more, “digital” and “data” have become the talk of the town. Yet while talking about data as…

With the rise of digital technologies, the use of personal data by private companies is growing rapidly. But how do we know they will use this data responsibly and in consumers’ best interests? In emerging and developing markets, the question is particularly acute because the predominant model rests upon obtaining consumer consent to use their…

The precision-recall plot is a model-wide measure for evaluating binary classifiers and closely related to the ROC plot. This article covers the basic concept and several important aspects of the precision-recall plot.

This article introduces basic performance measures derived from the confusion matrix.

Financial authorities’ use of technology has evolved over the years, leading to different generations of technology that culminate in what the paper by BIS, considers as suptech. Suptech refers to the application of big data or artificial intelligence (AI) to tools used by financial authorities. There are many ways of exploring suptech tools and these…

This podcast explores developments in the industry relating to the Internet of Things, data, AI and Machine Learning. It discusses what is fiction and what is possible and what we should be looking for in the future.

Recent advances in digital technology and big data have allowed FinTech (financial technology) lending to emerge as a potentially promising solution to reduce the cost of credit and increase financial inclusion. However, machine learning (ML) methods that lie at the heart of FinTech credit have remained largely a black box for the nontechnical audience. This…

Machine learning (ML) provides institutions with predictive analytics that leverage large amounts of both historical and continually-generated data to obtain actionable insights. These insights, in turn, allow institutions to design and deploy interventions to increase revenue, lower costs, and compete in a dynamic marketplace by providing more customer-centric products and services. However, few understand or…

Social media is changing customer service by shifting the ways in which consumers seek resolution of problems and the channels that firms make available to consumers. The ability for consumers to directly, instantly, and publicly praise or chastise the service of a firm has led to increased accountability and new ways to remotely resolve customer…

There are many internal and external challenges that providers must address for the promise of new data to be fully realized. From getting the right culture and technical talent in place to engaging with regulators and partners on data sharing and management, there are numerous obstacles to negotiate in capitalizing on the explosion of new…

The Data Analytics and Digital Financial Services Handbook gives financial service providers an overview of the potential that data and data analytics present for financial inclusion in terms of improving efficiency of operations and effectiveness of product development and marketing, as well as increase outreach through innovative data-driven lending methods. The handbook is intended to…

Very few technologies have captured the popular imagination like Artificial Intelligence (AI). It has become a key feature in science fiction movies and news stories about technology. But beyond the hype, organisations are looking at how it can transform their businesses, drive efficiencies and help them to serve customers better. This report from UK Finance explores…

An informative tutorial on Big Data.

Access to credit is a challenge that many MSMEs face. Often this is due to lack of data and financial records on the business. This case study produced by a DataHack4FI country winner in Zambia, explores the use of using data such as sales, expenses and investments to generate a credit score which could be…

The ethical use of data, and the extensive use of AI in day-to-day customer interactions have been an area of increased focus for politicians and regulators globally, as well as for news and media channels, over the last couple of years. New centres of research, such as the UK Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation,…

Everyone has a unique and distinctive personality. Fortunately for low-income populations that may have been excluded from formal financial services, their character traits can now help them access financial products. A psychometric credit assessment provides an alternative for thin-file loan applicants (i.e., zero or low credit history) by generating credit scores based on personality and behavior. These assessments predict loan repayment behavior…

An article on challanges when talking about machine learning and AI.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers big potential for gathering and using customer data and provide new or more appropriate financial services. Advances in AI and also the spread of the mobile phone means that there is a case for financial services providers to use this technology. This report looks at the potential benefits to businesses in…

This paper argues that the traditional “informed consent” model for consumer data protection has real weaknesses in effectively protecting the privacy of consumers in developing countries.

This article provides simple explanations of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning and how they’re all different. Plus, how AI and IoT are inextricably connected.

Article on the different types of machine learning.

An article by Robbie Allen containing his list of useful AI and machine learning resources from around the web.

Believing in data’s potential to provide both social and economic benefits, Accion set out to conduct research with the goal to develop a practitioner’s guide, building on the existing literature, to provide financial service providers (FSPs) with actionable insights and first steps on how to better leverage data for financial inclusion.Introducing data-driven innovations is a…

In the last five years, significant advances were made in the fields of computer vision, speech recognition, and language understanding. In this talk, Jeff Dean discusses why and how these advances have come about, what the implications are for areas as diverse as robotics, healthcare, human creativity and computer hardware design, and why these possibilities…

Mobile devices generate a range of data about their users. Information about identity, location, social patterns, movement, finances and even ambient environmental conditions can be derived from the data logged in mobile systems. As this data is uniquely detailed and tractable, it can capture information not easily found from other sources at a scale that…

This Focus Note from CGAP  asks how far emerging new sources of digital data can improve business model economics, reach more people, and enable greater customization. What can this trend contribute to advancing financial inclusion and financial service providers?

Using Big Data to get the right information to identify the right markets and customers at the right time enables institutions to make the right strategic decisions. This report from PWC looks at how to gather, analyse and use data for decision making.  

Though these are early days, there is enough to suggest that hundreds of millions of mass-market consumers may not have to remain “invisible” to formal, unsecured credit for much longer. Indeed, “Big Data, Small Credit” (BDSC) early adopters are already pointing the way, indicating both a nuanced understanding of their preferences and transactions and an…

Nowadays computers are in the middle of most economic transactions. These “computer-mediated transactions” generate huge amounts of data, and new tools can be used to manipulate and analyze this data. This essay offers a brief introduction to some of these tools and methods.

Introduction video to Machine Learning.

Big Data is the next big thing in computing. This video explains Big Data characteristics, technologies and opportunities.