4 most disruptive future themes

At the SIBOS 2018 financial conference in Sydney, BreakTheFuture caught up with futurist Brett King, author of Augmented: Life in the Smart Lane, who spoke at several sessions including The Future of Money and Curated networking – Artificial Intelligence.

We asked King, who formerly advised the Obama administration on the Future of Banking, for his predictions into the key trends of the future. Here’s what he sees in his crystal ball:

1. Artificial Intelligence

AI will be “the most disruptive thing coming down the pipeline”, according to King. He predicts that in financial services more broadly, AI is going to be the big disruptor.

2. Embedded technology

Technologies such as voice-based smart assistance and augmented reality smart glasses will be “part of our world and change the way we behave”.

3. Health innovations

Health tech and gene therapy will be major disruptors, “changing the way we live and the way we manage our wellbeing.”

4. Smart world

Putting all the above three trends together produces the fourth disruptive theme: “Smart infrastructure, smart cities, smart economies, how we’ll differentiate in the future. Differentiate business, and differentiate our country level economic participation.”

“A lot of the processes that currently humans are involved in, AI will revolutionise. I would say probably 40% to 50% of jobs in banking today will cease to exist as a result of AI. And some new jobs will be created. But forever, the foundation of what makes a bank is going to change, from being good at banking, to being really good at technology” – Brett King, Futurist