Microsoft and Element AI have joined the Veritas consortium which is led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, firming up their support to the responsible use of artificial intelligence in the financial services industry.
This follows Microsoft’s collaboration with Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank, Visa and Linklaters to pilot the application of the fairness, ethics, accountability and transparency (FEAT) principles and the Singapore Personal Data Protection Commission Model AI Governance Framework.
As an advisory member of Veritas, the software giant will share best practices and its research to help enable financial institutions to institute sound AI governance practices by providing them with a verifiable way to incorporate the FEAT principles into their AI and data analytics implementations.
“AI is a game changer for the FSI sector, with early adopters of AI advancing their lead. There is therefore a need to ensure its responsible use, for it to reach its full potential while securing the fairness, reliability, safety and privacy of organisations, end-users and societies at large,” said Connie Leung, financial services lead at Microsoft Asia.
“Deployments of AI must respect timeless values and democratic principles, underscored by fairness, privacy, inclusiveness, reliability, transparency and accountability,” said Leung. “Microsoft will continue to contribute and support customers, partners and regulators on AI and talent development to create awareness of the benefits of AI through scalable cloud infrastructure to empower organisations to innovate and digitally transform.”
As one of the AI technology providers to the consortium, Element AI’s involvement is aimed at including a range of research and development activities in support of this mandate. One of the first initiatives being undertaken is in collaboration with United Overseas Bank (UOB), one of the lead consortium members.
Together they will develop a set of quantifiable metrics for financial institutions to assess the extent to which data and the algorithms or models used to evaluate credit scoring for unsecured lending meet the principles of fairness.
“The Veritas initiative perfectly demonstrates why Singapore continues to be a global leader in applied AI,” said Jean-François Gagné, CEO and founder of Element AI. “The MAS approach to nurturing innovation and partnering with industry, whilst setting the standards and principles required for the responsible deployment of technology, is aspirational.”
