HUMANS & AI, THE FUTURE OF AN AUGMENTED WORKFORCE
Leighton Roberts, the co-founder and co-CEO of Sharesies, took the stage at the M2 AI Summit with a mix of humility and humour, a style befitting a man whose mission is to democratise financial opportunities for everyone. His journey, from cleaning a butchery to playing the trumpet in the New Zealand Army Band, to his current role, serves as a testament to his eclectic career and adaptability.
Sharesies, a wealth app with over 600,000 investors, has a vision that speaks to inclusivity and empowerment. “We’re here to create financial empowerment for everyone,” Leighton stated, highlighting how Sharesies has evolved from its original goal of giving someone with $5 and $5 million the same money opportunities to a broader mission of growing wealth together. This shift, he explained, is driven by the rapid technological advancements that are reshaping the financial landscape.
Leighton didn’t shy away from discussing the significant role AI plays at Sharesies. “One of the first things I thought I might do to introduce myself and maybe get some support from you,” he said, “was to go through my career and work out what jobs that I’ve done in the sort of 25 years I’ve been working we think as a room might still exist in the next five years.” This exercise, filled with self-deprecating humour about his early job cleaning a butchery and playing the trumpet, served to illustrate the relentless march of automation and AI.
The core of his keynote was an exploration of how AI is transforming Sharesies. The app’s customer response tool, for example, has handled 15,000 responses in a single week, with AI managing 65% of these interactions. “The change is immense and it’s quick,” he noted, reflecting the urgency with which Sharesies is adapting to this new technological reality. The company’s AI tools are not just enhancing efficiency but fundamentally altering the nature of work within the organisation. Leighton shared, “We’ve moved about 10 people out of directly customer-facing roles now into AI training roles.”
Leighton touched on the broader implications of AI for the financial industry. He cited a recent statement by the chair of the International Monetary Fund, describing AI as hitting the global labour market like a tsunami. “Artificial intelligence is likely to impact 60% of jobs in advanced economies and 40% around the world in the next two years,” he quoted, underscoring the speed and scale of this transformation.
He was candid about the challenges Sharesies faces. The company is not investing in developing AI ‘brains’—the core technology driving AI innovations—but is focused on building the harness around these technologies to ensure their investments remain relevant. “It’s not easy but it’s important to think about,” he admitted, acknowledging the strategic complexity involved in staying ahead in a rapidly changing environment.
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