Keeping it Human: A Focus Group Study of Public Attitudes Towards AI in Banking

Mhairi Aitken; Magdalene Ng; Ehsan Toreini; Aad van Moorsel; Kovila P.L. Coopamootoo; Karen Elliott

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-66504-3_2

Keeping it Human: A Focus Group Study of Public Attitudes Towards AI in Banking

Mhairi Aitken^*
, Magdalene Ng
, Ehsan Toreini
, Aad van Moorsel
, Kovila P.L. Coopamootoo
, Karen Elliott

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

While there is substantial interest in ethical practice relating to Artificial Intelligence (AI), to date there has been limited consideration of what this means in the banking sector. This study aimed to address this gap in the literature through a qualitative study of public attitudes and perceptions of current and potential future uses of AI in banking. A series of focus groups were conducted with diversemembers of the public. Focus group participants were largely positive about the role of AI in speeding up financial processes and increasing efficiency. Yet, they also expressed a number of concerns around potential negative impacts on society and consistently emphasized the importance of human judgement or oversight. The findings suggest a potential cognitive dissonance where people use new services due to perceived convenience or immediate benefits, while disliking or distrusting those services or holding concerns about their impacts on society. The findings illustrate that participants’ concerns did not typically relate to private or individual interests but more often to wider ethical and social concerns. The focus groups demonstrated the value of qualitative, deliberative methods to explore the nuances of public responses and highlighted the importance of taking account of conditions for public acceptability - rather than just customer uptake - in order to develop ethical practice and establish a social licence for uses of AI in banking.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Computer Security
Subtitle of host publication	ESORICS 2020 International Workshops, DETIPS, DeSECSys, MPS, and SPOSE, 2020, Revised Selected Papers
Editors	Ioana Boureanu, Mark Manulis, Christoforos Dadoyan, Roger A. Hallman, Victor Chang, Jörg Pohle, Constantin Catalin Dragan, Thanassis Giannetsos, Panagiotis Gouvas, Shujun Li, Frank Pallas, Angela Sasse
Publisher	Springer, Cham
Pages	21-38
Number of pages	18
ISBN (Electronic)	9783030665043
ISBN (Print)	9783030665036
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66504-3_2
Publication status	Published - 24 Dec 2020
Event	25th European Symposium on Research in Computer Security - Guildford, United Kingdom Duration: 14 Sept 2020 → 18 Sept 2020 Conference number: 25

Publication series

Name	Computer Security
Volume	12580
ISSN (Print)	0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)	1611-3349

Conference

Conference	25th European Symposium on Research in Computer Security
Abbreviated title	ESORICS 2020
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	Guildford
Period	14/09/20 → 18/09/20

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020.

Keywords

Artificial Intelligence
FinTech
Public acceptability

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Theoretical Computer Science
General Computer Science

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-030-66504-3_2Licence: None: All rights reserved

Cite this

Aitken, M., Ng, M., Toreini, E., van Moorsel, A., Coopamootoo, K. P. L., & Elliott, K. (2020). Keeping it Human: A Focus Group Study of Public Attitudes Towards AI in Banking. In I. Boureanu, M. Manulis, C. Dadoyan, R. A. Hallman, V. Chang, J. Pohle, C. Catalin Dragan, T. Giannetsos, P. Gouvas, S. Li, F. Pallas, & A. Sasse (Eds.), Computer Security: ESORICS 2020 International Workshops, DETIPS, DeSECSys, MPS, and SPOSE, 2020, Revised Selected Papers (pp. 21-38). (Computer Security; Vol. 12580). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66504-3_2

Aitken, Mhairi ; Ng, Magdalene ; Toreini, Ehsan et al. / Keeping it Human : A Focus Group Study of Public Attitudes Towards AI in Banking. Computer Security: ESORICS 2020 International Workshops, DETIPS, DeSECSys, MPS, and SPOSE, 2020, Revised Selected Papers. editor / Ioana Boureanu ; Mark Manulis ; Christoforos Dadoyan ; Roger A. Hallman ; Victor Chang ; Jörg Pohle ; Constantin Catalin Dragan ; Thanassis Giannetsos ; Panagiotis Gouvas ; Shujun Li ; Frank Pallas ; Angela Sasse. Springer, Cham, 2020. pp. 21-38 (Computer Security).

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title = "Keeping it Human: A Focus Group Study of Public Attitudes Towards AI in Banking",

abstract = "While there is substantial interest in ethical practice relating to Artificial Intelligence (AI), to date there has been limited consideration of what this means in the banking sector. This study aimed to address this gap in the literature through a qualitative study of public attitudes and perceptions of current and potential future uses of AI in banking. A series of focus groups were conducted with diversemembers of the public. Focus group participants were largely positive about the role of AI in speeding up financial processes and increasing efficiency. Yet, they also expressed a number of concerns around potential negative impacts on society and consistently emphasized the importance of human judgement or oversight. The findings suggest a potential cognitive dissonance where people use new services due to perceived convenience or immediate benefits, while disliking or distrusting those services or holding concerns about their impacts on society. The findings illustrate that participants{\textquoteright} concerns did not typically relate to private or individual interests but more often to wider ethical and social concerns. The focus groups demonstrated the value of qualitative, deliberative methods to explore the nuances of public responses and highlighted the importance of taking account of conditions for public acceptability - rather than just customer uptake - in order to develop ethical practice and establish a social licence for uses of AI in banking.",

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language = "English",

isbn = "9783030665036",

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editor = "Ioana Boureanu and Mark Manulis and Christoforos Dadoyan and Hallman, \{Roger A.\} and Victor Chang and J{\"o}rg Pohle and \{Catalin Dragan\}, Constantin and Thanassis Giannetsos and Panagiotis Gouvas and Shujun Li and Frank Pallas and Angela Sasse",

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Aitken, M, Ng, M, Toreini, E, van Moorsel, A, Coopamootoo, KPL & Elliott, K 2020, Keeping it Human: A Focus Group Study of Public Attitudes Towards AI in Banking. in I Boureanu, M Manulis, C Dadoyan, RA Hallman, V Chang, J Pohle, C Catalin Dragan, T Giannetsos, P Gouvas, S Li, F Pallas & A Sasse (eds), Computer Security: ESORICS 2020 International Workshops, DETIPS, DeSECSys, MPS, and SPOSE, 2020, Revised Selected Papers. Computer Security, vol. 12580, Springer, Cham, pp. 21-38, 25th European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, Guildford, United Kingdom, 14/09/20. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66504-3_2

Keeping it Human: A Focus Group Study of Public Attitudes Towards AI in Banking. / Aitken, Mhairi; Ng, Magdalene; Toreini, Ehsan et al.
Computer Security: ESORICS 2020 International Workshops, DETIPS, DeSECSys, MPS, and SPOSE, 2020, Revised Selected Papers. ed. / Ioana Boureanu; Mark Manulis; Christoforos Dadoyan; Roger A. Hallman; Victor Chang; Jörg Pohle; Constantin Catalin Dragan; Thanassis Giannetsos; Panagiotis Gouvas; Shujun Li; Frank Pallas; Angela Sasse. Springer, Cham, 2020. p. 21-38 (Computer Security; Vol. 12580).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

TY - GEN

T1 - Keeping it Human

T2 - 25th European Symposium on Research in Computer Security

AU - Aitken, Mhairi

AU - Ng, Magdalene

AU - Toreini, Ehsan

AU - van Moorsel, Aad

AU - Coopamootoo, Kovila P.L.

AU - Elliott, Karen

N1 - Conference code: 25

PY - 2020/12/24

Y1 - 2020/12/24

N2 - While there is substantial interest in ethical practice relating to Artificial Intelligence (AI), to date there has been limited consideration of what this means in the banking sector. This study aimed to address this gap in the literature through a qualitative study of public attitudes and perceptions of current and potential future uses of AI in banking. A series of focus groups were conducted with diversemembers of the public. Focus group participants were largely positive about the role of AI in speeding up financial processes and increasing efficiency. Yet, they also expressed a number of concerns around potential negative impacts on society and consistently emphasized the importance of human judgement or oversight. The findings suggest a potential cognitive dissonance where people use new services due to perceived convenience or immediate benefits, while disliking or distrusting those services or holding concerns about their impacts on society. The findings illustrate that participants’ concerns did not typically relate to private or individual interests but more often to wider ethical and social concerns. The focus groups demonstrated the value of qualitative, deliberative methods to explore the nuances of public responses and highlighted the importance of taking account of conditions for public acceptability - rather than just customer uptake - in order to develop ethical practice and establish a social licence for uses of AI in banking.

AB - While there is substantial interest in ethical practice relating to Artificial Intelligence (AI), to date there has been limited consideration of what this means in the banking sector. This study aimed to address this gap in the literature through a qualitative study of public attitudes and perceptions of current and potential future uses of AI in banking. A series of focus groups were conducted with diversemembers of the public. Focus group participants were largely positive about the role of AI in speeding up financial processes and increasing efficiency. Yet, they also expressed a number of concerns around potential negative impacts on society and consistently emphasized the importance of human judgement or oversight. The findings suggest a potential cognitive dissonance where people use new services due to perceived convenience or immediate benefits, while disliking or distrusting those services or holding concerns about their impacts on society. The findings illustrate that participants’ concerns did not typically relate to private or individual interests but more often to wider ethical and social concerns. The focus groups demonstrated the value of qualitative, deliberative methods to explore the nuances of public responses and highlighted the importance of taking account of conditions for public acceptability - rather than just customer uptake - in order to develop ethical practice and establish a social licence for uses of AI in banking.

KW - Artificial Intelligence

KW - FinTech

KW - Public acceptability

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85116329621

U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-66504-3_2

DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-66504-3_2

M3 - Conference contribution

SN - 9783030665036

T3 - Computer Security

SP - 21

EP - 38

BT - Computer Security

A2 - Boureanu, Ioana

A2 - Manulis, Mark

A2 - Dadoyan, Christoforos

A2 - Hallman, Roger A.

A2 - Chang, Victor

A2 - Pohle, Jörg

A2 - Catalin Dragan, Constantin

A2 - Giannetsos, Thanassis

A2 - Gouvas, Panagiotis

A2 - Li, Shujun

A2 - Pallas, Frank

A2 - Sasse, Angela

PB - Springer, Cham

Y2 - 14 September 2020 through 18 September 2020

ER -

Aitken M, Ng M, Toreini E, van Moorsel A, Coopamootoo KPL, Elliott K. Keeping it Human: A Focus Group Study of Public Attitudes Towards AI in Banking. In Boureanu I, Manulis M, Dadoyan C, Hallman RA, Chang V, Pohle J, Catalin Dragan C, Giannetsos T, Gouvas P, Li S, Pallas F, Sasse A, editors, Computer Security: ESORICS 2020 International Workshops, DETIPS, DeSECSys, MPS, and SPOSE, 2020, Revised Selected Papers. Springer, Cham. 2020. p. 21-38. (Computer Security). doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-66504-3_2

Keeping it Human: A Focus Group Study of Public Attitudes Towards AI in Banking

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this