The Tribune

By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamian financial services provider yesterday unveiled what it described as the world’s first artificial intelligence (AI) powered humanoid loan officer, Evelyn Phylistina (Evie).

Robert Pantry, founder and chief executive of the Simplified Group of Companies, said it has been integrating AI into its business for the past two years. He added that Evie will make the client experience more efficient and easier, and the humanoid robots will become available through the group’s technology branch, Simplified Tech.

“Simplified Lending has made significant strides in AI automation, leading to new opportunities as a group and the creation of Simplified Tech. Simplified Tech will be dedicated to providing humanoid robots and AI solutions for businesses and individual consumers, both in The Bahamas and internationally,” said Mr Pantry.

“We believe Evie is just the beginning of what’s possible. While still in beta testing, she represents the future of financial services and the future of business in general. We believe that AI-driven humanoid robots will impact every industry in the years as the technology advances.”

Mr Pantry said Evie will assist clients with loan applications, inquiries and document processing, allowing Simplified’s human agents to have faster turnaround times and focus on developing more meaningful client relationships.

“She’s being developed to assist with loan applications, making the process faster and seamless. Document processing, automating tasks that traditionally require manual effort, client engagement, enhancing the customer experience with AI interactions,” said Mr Pantry.

“As technology advances, we envision Evie expanding our capabilities to support insurance obligations to our partnership with affiliate insurance, legal sales, financial education and advisory services. Our goal is not to replace human jobs, that’s important to note, but enhance productivity and efficiency, allowing our team to focus on more creative tasks and other higher value tasks in customer relationship, financial advisory and innovation.”

Mr Pantry said humanoid robots can help solve many issues in the financial services industry as they can expand operational hours, lower operations costs and work remotely in convenient locations.

“One of the reasons, when you look at the challenges with operating branches is the cost of operating those branches. With the humanoid robots, we believe that you may not need as much folks working in the branch to operate that branch, because they will be complemented with humanoid robots,” said Mr Pantry.

“In terms of distribution, you may be able to open up more branches, with the humanoid robots working alongside less humans, but you can also expand the distribution of where these robots can be. They can be in a furniture store to take an application. Whereas it may not be feasible to have a human loan officer in that branch, they may be able to be in a grocery store, they may be able to be in a hospital.

“So different points where it may not be feasible for humans, but it can be feasible to serve customers with your robots. She won’t have to knock off at 5pm. She could continue to work. You may have a section in the food store that opens until 9pm. She can be open as well. So you expand the distribution and also the timing.”

Through Evie is still “several months” away from deployment at a Simplified Lending branch, Mr Pantry said his team has been training to work with AI for the past year-and-a-half and has seen an increase in productivity and efficiency.

He added that although some may have fears about humanoid robots replacing human labour, Evie is not a replacement for his employees but a tool to help make their jobs easier.

Mr Pantry said he believes future jobs will require less manual, repetitive tasks as technology will take them on, but human employees will still be needed to process this information leading to an increase in employment opportunities for more tech savvy individuals.

“In the last year-and-a-half, we’ve been retraining our staff to prompt and train AIs to take on more of the manual tasks. So, the creativity and being able to process automation, I think they are the jobs of the future. Rather than using manual tasks, your job will be focused in terms of process automation and working with these robots so they can do that,” he explained.

“There will be job displacement in terms of those who may not want to learn to evolve but, for the most part, the jobs of the future will be a little different. I think it’s going to be a net increase in jobs with these humanoid robots. Also, in terms of job satisfaction, I think they’re going to bring more job satisfaction. Because, rather than sitting out toiling on one thing over and over a day, they could go do more creative jobs.

“Also, they could take more time off in terms of vacation because the robot’s doing the physical, manual tasks. I think it’s an exciting time for the job, but again, it’s going to be a transition. Overall, I do think it’s going to be a net increase, given the increase in terms of efficiency, productivity and, by default, economic activity.”