Focus on internal problem solving, security and scalability
underpins Ally's foray into generative AI
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 19,
2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY)
announced today the launch of Ally.ai, a proprietary, cloud-based
artificial intelligence (AI) platform that has the functionality of
traditional and generative AI tools, including foundational models,
along with the specialized human touch and data security
protections essential for a financial services company.
Ally's roadmap for AI is focused on strategic problem solving
and future scalability with significant emphasis on human training,
feedback and oversight. The Ally.ai platform allows Ally to
integrate any type of AI capability, including generative AI and
large language models, into business operations at an enterprise
scale.
"Generative AI has the potential to be a game-changer in
financial services and global business in general," said Ally
Financial Chief Executive Officer Jeff (JB) Brown. "As a
digital-first company, we are going to do it right with AI –
exploring the technology in a responsible manner with core
principles and controls firmly in place. In just a few months, Ally
teammates have moved quickly and prudently to anticipate how this
new technology can positively support our business. We are known
for being relentlessly focused on our customers, and those values
won't change – it's a matter of how generative AI can be integrated
to support our vision for what digital banking can become."
Within the roadmap and in the exploration of the technology,
Ally is emphasizing three core principles: initially focusing on
use cases that support employee productivity and optimizing
internal business processes; providing human intervention and
controls for oversight and training; preventing the disclosure of
personal identifying information and restricting external
generative AI models from learning or training with Ally data.
"As part of our long-term One
Ally technology strategy, we have been advancing our data
ecosystem end-to-end and using deterministic AI models and
frameworks for many years," said Ally's Chief Information, Data and
Digital Officer Sathish
Muthukrishnan. "The launch of the Ally.ai platform is the
next evolution framing how we power deeper and more meaningful
digital experiences while also unleashing productivity and new
efficiencies. We're being thoughtful about where and when to
leverage its capabilities."
A Spotlight on Security, Governance and Risk
Mitigation
As a digital-first organization, Ally takes seriously the issues
of security and customer data privacy. The Ally.ai platform is
built in a secured environment on Ally's dedicated cloud
infrastructure with its own private network.
Ally also has a robust governance structure in place, which
includes an AI playbook from which the entire enterprise can
operate – it defines common policy, details processes that must be
followed, and highlights ethical guidance and considerations. In
addition, Ally has established an AI Working Group, an internal
team of professionals in financial service fields such as product,
data, security, risk, compliance and audit, who collaborate with
Ally's AI tech leaders to carefully review and advise on use
cases.
"Our teammates are being actively trained and involved in the
evaluation and use of generative AI technology," Muthukrishnan
said. "Any time we launch a pilot program or explore the use of
generative AI in any setting, human intervention and oversight
mechanisms are fully defined ahead of time. The AI Working Group
and business leaders will agree to how the use case will be tested
and what will be measured, and if there's value in the outputs.
It's these types of risk mitigation strategies that help us
carefully and consistently identify processes, people and potential
outcomes that must be addressed before any use cases are fully
deployed."
"We're Not Standing Still"
While the advancement and adoption of generative AI technology
has been fast worldwide, Ally's leadership team has taken a
deliberate, but proactive approach to understand and activate
generative AI capabilities. Ally.ai, built on the cloud by the
in-house technology team at Ally and powered by Microsoft Azure
OpenAI Service, went online in June
2023 with the goal of launching the first pilot program with
Ally's Customer Care and Experience team later the same month.
"The consensus is that generative AI has staying power,"
Muthukrishnan said. "As a forward-thinking digital bank, we must
constantly see around corners and be on the forefront of
exploration – we're not standing still. Embedding generative AI
into our business, with proper data privacy and security protocols
in place, allows us to test and learn how it fits into our current
technology landscape and how it might positively impact business
processes."
With the debut of the platform, Ally launched a customer call
summarization pilot program that supported more than 700
associates. Over the next 30 days, Ally.ai assisted associates in
transcribing and summarizing live customer service phone calls in
real time. Associates provided real time feedback on their
experience, which helped refine the prompt engineering and model
further. They gave positive commentary around the accuracy and
convenience of the capability. Now, approximately 82 percent of
summaries coming back from Ally.ai do not require any human
modification – a metric that increased steadily during the pilot.
They also said that Ally.ai summarizations have helped them focus
their energy on meaningful customer interactions and have reduced
the amount of time needed to document the conversation and toggle
between screens.
Learn more about the Ally Call Summarization use case and watch
a short demo: LINK
Just one month after the pilot began, Ally leaders conferred,
reviewed feedback, and saw the value of the summarization
capability made possible by Ally.ai. Call summarization has been
moved to production and is now a feature in the portal used by
associates answering customer calls. Plans are underway for the
next set of generative AI use cases.
"Generative AI is already making an impact in how we work and
how we serve our customers," Muthukrishnan stated. "We will be
thoughtful and cautious, but nimble and growth-minded enough to
seize the opportunities that AI can bring to our business."
For more insights from the technology team at Ally, including
how the team is doing it right with AI and exploring new
innovations like quantum computing and digital accessibility, visit
https://ally.tech.
About Ally Financial
Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY) is a financial services company
with the nation's largest all-digital bank and an industry-leading
auto financing business, driven by a mission to "Do It Right" and
be a relentless ally for customers and communities. The company
serves more than 11 million customers through a full range of
online banking services (including deposits, mortgage,
point-of-sale personal lending, and credit card products) and
securities brokerage and investment advisory services. The company
also includes a robust corporate finance business that offers
capital for equity sponsors and middle-market companies, as well as
auto financing and insurance offerings. For more information,
please visit www.ally.com and follow @allyfinancial.
For more information and disclosures about Ally,
visit https://www.ally.com/#disclosures.
For further images and news on Ally, please
visit http://media.ally.com.
Contacts:
Laurie Hurst
Ally Communications (Media)
media@ally.com
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SOURCE Ally Financial