Adoption rates have not been meeting high expectations since 2019, but things are looking up with GenAI’s stronger capabilities 

In an October 2023, via a 22-question survey that received responses from 1,187 of the 80,426 members of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) on their organizations’ use of various technologies for their work, some trends were reported from the data.

First, at the time of the survey, 18% of respondents counted AI/ML among their fraud-fighting tools. Another 32% anticipated implementing these technologies in the next two years.

Second, despite “fervent interest”, adoption of AI and ML for fraud detection and prevention had grown by 5% since the yearly survey’s 2019 inception. That figure falls far short of the anticipated adoption rates in the 2019 and 2022 data (25% and 26%, respectively).

Third, the use of physical biometrics has climbed 14% since 2019, now cited by 40% of respondents. Some 20% reported using robotics, including robotic process automation, up from 9% in 2019. In  respondents from the banking and financial services, 51% of respondents were using physical biometrics and 33% using robotics.

According to Stu Bradley, Senior Vice President of Risk, Fraud and Compliance Solutions, SAS, which conducted the survey, the increased interest in advanced analytics techniques, “juxtaposed with much more modest adoption rates, proves the complexities of scaling the AI and analytics life cycle.”

AI and ML are not simple, plug-and-play applications, according to Bradley, but their benefits can be more readily realized by deploying modularized solutions across the risk management spectrum via a unified AI-powered platform.

Said ACFE President John Gill: “The accessibility of GenAI-powered tools makes them incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands. Three in five organizations (surveyed) foresee increasing their anti-fraud technology budgets over the next two years. How they invest these funds will determine who will seize the upper hand in what’s become a technology arms race with criminal enterprises. It’s an uphill battle when you consider that, unlike the fraudsters, organizations face the added challenge of having to use these technologies ethically.”