
AI in Financial Services Podcast
The AI in Financial Services is for non-technical financial services leaders looking to find AI opportunities, build an AI strategy, and deliver ROI.
Each week, Emerj AI Research team (and CEO Daniel Faggella) interview leaders from global financial services firms and unicorn AI startups to get to the heart of AI ROI - uncovering what’s working and what’s not working for FinServ leaders.
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Latest episodes

Jul 10, 2023 • 22min
From Avoiding to Craving Feedback in Financial Services CX - with Mike Murchison of Ada
Today’s guest is Ada CEO, Mike Murchison. Ada is an AI-powered customer service automation platform based in Toronto. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Mike explains what he sees as the most significant shift in financial services CX workflows since the dawn of the AI age: moving from avoiding customer interactions to craving them. He tells us how financial institutions can better suit themselves for the transition, given the constant tumult of AI news and technological developments. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!

Jul 3, 2023 • 23min
AI for Driving Results, and Empathy, in Collections - with Christopher Reese of Cresta
Today’s guest is Cresta Director of Customer Value, Christopher Reese. Cresta is a tech company specializing in building custom AI-enhanced call center solutions. Christopher joins us on the program today to discuss the unique challenges facing the collections space – from compliance and high turnover to the painstaking work of negotiations. Later, they explore use cases demonstrating how new technologies are helping human agents elicit more empathy. This episode is sponsored by Cresta. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.

Jun 26, 2023 • 15min
Bankable LLM Use Cases for Financial Services - with Muddu Sudhakar of Aisera
Today’s guest is Muddu Sudhakar, CEO of Aisera - a conversational AI platform that automates and synchronizes workflows across the organization. He joins us to discuss the most promising use cases he sees among large language models in the financial services sector. In working with companies across industries to de-silo departments, tech stacks, and workflows through conversational AI - Muddu is particularly well positioned to judge which are rising to the top across banks, investment, insurance firms, and beyond. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!

Jun 19, 2023 • 23min
Cybersecurity Workflows in the Era of Generative AI and Autonomy - with Eran Ashkenazi of SentinelOne
Today’s guest is Eran Ashkenazi, Chief Customer Officer at SentinelOne. SentinelOne is a public US-based cybersecurity company founded in 2013 that uses machine learning to gain deeper insight into how organizations use information technology. Eran joins us to discuss enhancing customer journeys in cybersecurity amid an emerging era of generative AI tools in financial services. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!

Jun 12, 2023 • 26min
LLMs and Knowledge Graphs for Customer Experience - with Michael Walrath of Yext
Today’s guest is Michael Walrath, CEO of Yext. Yext is a unicorn startup with a $2 billion market cap achieved in 2021 and over $300 million yearly revenue. Michael joins us on the program today to talk about the ongoing impact of large language models (LLMs) and knowledge graphs on financial services from the standpoint of marketing and search. Throughout, he and Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello unpack customer experience challenges from hallucinations to best data organization practices for leveraging these emerging technologies. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.

Jun 5, 2023 • 18min
Reducing False Positives in Fraud Detection for eCommerce - with Ido Lustig of Checkout.com
Today’s guest is Checkout.com Chief Risk Officer Ido Lustig. He joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on the program to talk about challenges in addressing fraud without false positives, where this gets murkier in places like cross-border transactions. Later, they discuss how these problems look from a data-based standpoint regarding classification and severity. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.

May 29, 2023 • 5min
Autonomous Financial Workflows for the Individual and the Organization - with Supriya Gupta of Credit Karma
Today’s guest is Credit Karma Vice President and Core Team General Manager Supriya Gupta. Credit Karma is a multinational personal finance brand under Intuit that makes products free to consumers that help them find lenders. Supriya returns to the show today to discuss the rise of personalization data in financial services and how this will change the relationship between consumers and their personal finances. Along the way, Supriya advises financial services leaders about the best ways to take advantage of the influx of data. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.

May 22, 2023 • 26min
Finding ‘Ground Truth’ in Accounting Workflows - with Michael Hitchcock of Intuit
Today’s guest is the Director of Product Management, Accounting &Tax at Intuit, Michael Hitchcock. Michael returns to the program to talk about the impact AI will have on accounting workflows, how it will fundamentally change accounting as a profession, and what this is looking like from his position at one of the leading personal financial services brands. Together with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Michael discusses applicable Quickbooks use cases and the criteria they use to identify “ground truth” in personalization metrics. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.

May 15, 2023 • 21min
What Finserv Challenges Look Like to the CTO - With Rebecca Parsons of Thoughtworks
Today’s guest is Thoughtworks Chief Technology Officer Rebecca Parsons. ThoughtWorks is a publicly owned global technology company operating in 18 countries, providing software design and delivery tools and consulting services to clients like Google and Microsoft. Together with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Rebecca explores how financial services challenges look from the vantage point of data scientists at the onset of emergence in use cases for large language models. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.

May 8, 2023 • 13min
What Broad Democratization Means for Financial Services - with Kurt Muehmel of Dataiku
Today’s guest is Strategic Advisor for Dataiku, Kurt Muehmel. Dataiku is an AI and machine learning company with over $4.6 billion in funding. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Kurt dissects the business challenges driving trends that are described as the “broad democratization” of data in financial services and other surrounding sectors. Later, they take a closer look at how businesses will navigate the transitions therein from both cultural and technical standpoints. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!