AI revolutionises regulated communication surveillance

AI Revolutionises Regulated Communication Surveillance

In an era where artificial intelligence (AI) continues to permeate various sectors, its transformative potential is increasingly apparent, particularly in highly regulated industries. The surveillance of regulated communications, historically a resource-intensive and human-dependent task, is seeing significant efficiency improvements thanks to AI.

Advanced AI: Changing the Landscape of Compliance

Historically, firms such as banks and law firms have relied on highly-trained human reviewers to scrutinise thousands of emails, messages, and voice call transcriptions daily for compliance breaches. These reviewers, employed in large numbers, represent a significant operational cost. However, AI, with its capability to function tirelessly around the clock, is gradually supplanting many of these traditional roles.

Chris Stapenhurst, Senior Principal Product Manager at data management leader Veritas, underscores the revolutionary impact of AI. Veritas, known for its advanced discovery, surveillance, and file analysis products, leverages AI to enhance compliance processes substantially. “Machine Learning, for example, combs through every communication automatically and turns potential regulatory violations into alerts so that human reviewers can scrutinize them more closely,” he says.

Efficiency and Accuracy: AI vs. Human Reviewers

AI’s ability to handle vast data volumes is unparalleled. Traditional methods involve using a lexicon of phrases indicating potential non-compliance, which human reviewers manually update infrequently. In contrast, AI continuously learns and adapts from human reviewer interactions, updating its parameters in real-time. This capability significantly reduces false positives – instances where non-risky communications are flagged – by up to 98%, thereby streamlining the review process.

A well-rounded surveillance strategy incorporates both legacy lexicons and cutting-edge AI-powered features. This multifaceted approach ensures comprehensive monitoring, from behaviour modelling to sentiment analysis. Veritas’s solution remains distinctive for its ability to dynamically self-improve based on reviewer feedback, ensuring ongoing relevance and accuracy.

Transparency and Compliance

Regulators now expect a higher level of transparency regarding AI operations in compliance monitoring. It is no longer sufficient for firms to indicate merely that they are using AI; they must provide detailed explanations of how their systems function. Veritas excels here with its ‘contributing factors’ system, which provides detailed rationales for why an alert was triggered. This transparency assists firms in explaining their AI’s workings to regulators, fostering greater trust and demonstrating robust internal policing.

Human Reviewers: Essential Yet Augmented

Despite AI’s advances, human reviewers remain indispensable, though in potentially reduced numbers. The primary benefit of AI lies in its ability to enhance the reviewer experience by filtering out vast amounts of non-relevant data, allowing them to focus on genuine risks. Stapenhurst highlights, “When faced with reading 1,000 messages, it is highly desirable for AI to be able to instantly remove 95% of them because it has learned that they are harmless junk.”

For major financial institutions, compliance breaches are an expensive reality. Yet, the deployment of AI tools can mitigate these fines by demonstrating effective internal compliance mechanisms to regulators. Stapenhurst asserts, “If their surveillance regime – and the AI tools within it – can help demonstrate to the regulators that they are internally policing themselves effectively, they’ll be treated more favourably.”

Future of AI in Compliance

AI is poised to become an essential element of compliance operations for regulated firms. The efficiency, accuracy, and cost savings it brings are indispensable in the fast-evolving regulatory landscape. As firms continue to integrate AI-powered tools like those offered by Veritas, the compliance sector will likely witness profound transformations, balancing technological advancement with human oversight.

Source: Noah Wire Services