Theodora Lau is Founder of Unconventional Ventures, 3x published book author and one of American Banker’s Most Influential Women in FinTech.
Do consumers in developed regions with more frequent access to emerging technologies trust AI more compared to those in emerging economies? As it turns out, the answer may surprise you.
According to the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, 77% of respondents in India trust AI, compared to 32% in the U.S. In fact, Nigeria, Thailand, China, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Kenya and the UAE all rank closely behind as the top countries with the most trust in AI. On the other hand, only six countries rank below the U.S. in trust with the technology: Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, the U.K., Australia and Ireland. The survey also found slightly more men (52%) than women (46%) trust AI.
With less than 1 in 3 people being comfortable with the use of AI in business, this is not an insignificant number. As we continue to deploy more AI use cases in the financial services industry—where trust is a cornerstone—how our society perceives the technology matters a great deal.
The Real Risk Of AI Misuse
I don’t have a straight answer to how we got here. But I have a few guesses, including cultural differences in technology adoption, regulatory framework differences across regions, and maturity in infrastructure. And take a quick look at the steady drumbeat in the past few years with the hype around generative AI: What has been dominating our headlines?
Displacement.
Don’t get me wrong, I think being able to find ways to improve what we do and free up talent from mundane tasks is a great use case for technology. But at the same time, if you are using AI simply as a reason (or excuse) to reduce head count, or worse, overhyping what the technology can do, you are not only causing harm to the general public’s perception of the technology, but you might also risk reputation damage to your organization’s brand.
The Human Cost
Consider one of Klarna’s bold claims last year: The company said its newly deployed AI-powered assistant, developed in collaboration with OpenAI, performed the work of 700 customer service agents and handled 2.3 million interactions since its first month of operation, all the while having a customer satisfaction score on par with human agents. The company also indicated plans to make further reductions in head count by leveraging AI in marketing and customer service.
Meanwhile, Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke indicated in April that the company will not be making new (human) hires unless it can be proven that AI is not capable of doing the job. Imagine what message this is sending to Shopify employees and tech workers.
While he likely won’t be the only executive saying the quiet part out loud, one can only imagine how Shopify employees and tech workers perceive this message: They will all eventually be replaced by automation.
A Double-Edged Sword
Beyond redundancy, there are other concerns as well—one of them being AI-driven cybercrime. As bad actors exploit affordable and easy-to-use generative AI tools to create deepfakes to defraud financial institutions and unsuspecting customers, fraud losses will likely only continue to climb. Deloitte’s Center for Financial Services predicted that generative AI “could enable fraud losses to reach US$40 billion in the United States by 2027, from US$12.3 billion in 2023.”
While AI has the potential to solve many challenges that we previously deemed insurmountable, it can also create unintended consequences and hurt those who need help the most.
But just because the technology may be misused does not mean that we should shy away from it. Rather, this is a call to action for finance leaders to double down on ways that can help ensure that the technology will be deployed to create value and deliver tangible benefits to people and uplift communities who have been forgotten or left behind.
I recall a visit to Hangzhou, China, back in 2018. While the concept of superapp was still new to many of us in the U.S., it was the living reality of millions of people in the country, where daily activities, including e-commerce, digital payments, social payments, micro-investing, lending and saving, are all done within one app. Meanwhile, MYbank, Ant Group’s online bank, revolutionized AI-powered lending with their 3-1-0 model: three minutes to apply and one second to disperse the loan with zero human contact.
Similar models have since proliferated since then in Asia. These platforms have become indispensable to millions of customers and small businesses in virtually every aspect of their lives—enabling them not only access to financial services but tools to power their dreams and aspirations. And these relationships and interactions are what will continue to drive the industry adoption and trust in AI.
Trust: The Missing Link
Perceptions often influence adoption. As we look toward the future, more must be done to cultivate trust in AI. Below are some practical steps finance leaders can take to build and maintain that trust.
1. Be transparent about how data is used: Finance leaders should develop resources to help customers better understand how AI is used (and not used). When it comes to data gathering and how it is being used in AI algorithms, maintaining transparency not only with customers but also with partners and regulators is paramount to cultivating trust.
2. Use AI to support—not replace—human decision-making: Keeping humans in the loop is essential for critical decisions such as loan approval.
3. Clearly differentiate between AI and human interactions: Customers also need to know when they are interacting with a human service agent versus a bot, and they need pathways to human assistance when they need it.
A Golden Opportunity
As I often say, AI is not new, nor is it magical. And while the likes of ChatGPT in the past two years might have ignited (or reignited) curiosity and capital, we are just at the beginning of the cusp of innovation. Finance leaders have a golden opportunity to deliver real value to customers—not just cost-cutting for our own organizations. Future success will require collaboration across companies, industries and borders—and the ability to dream beyond our boundaries of imagination.
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