UBS Bank is creating videos featuring realistic AI versions of its analysts to share with clients, in addition to the research notes it disseminates.
The Swiss bank started the project at the beginning of this year and wants to ramp up the use of AI to assign its analysts more productive projects.
The video undertaking, done with OpenAI and Synthesia models, already has the buy-in of over 36 analysts (out of 720, per UBS’ website) and plans to roll out the capability globally, UBS told Fortune.
“There are two drivers for it: the client driver and the efficiency driver . . . It is helping you scale your video capabilities in a way that clients are asking you for, and ultimately saving you time to do your research and meet with clients,” Scott Solomon, who heads global research technology at UBS’s investment bank, told the Financial Times in an interview published Monday.
Creating a video starts with digesting the analyst’s reports and creating a script. The UBS analyst then signs off on the script before it’s made into a video.
A UBS spokesperson said the process has been hassle-free, especially when analysts are busy, and that the feedback has been positive overall.
“We have already had situations where the analyst was on the road meeting clients, but thanks to the AI capabilities was able to quickly generate and review and approve a video script based on their research note, use their avatar to record the video, and then publish it to clients,” the spokesperson said.
The technology mimicking the likeness of real people in videos has been advancing, sometimes raising concerns when used to create AI deepfakes.
Earlier this year, an unsolicited video clone of well-known markets analyst Michael Hewson popped up as a Facebook ad, The Times reported. The deepfake video nudged viewers to join a WhatsApp group for stock details that could offer “massive gains” in just two months.
Other cases of AI-generated videos misusing the likeness of famous personalities have surfaced over the years, prompting a groundswell of support for AI legislation to stem the use of deepfakes.
But the positive use cases of AI have caused its adoption in the financial industry to rise. It now has various functions that can improve efficiency and open up new resources for the company and its clients.
Zurich-based UBS Bank is being careful with how it manages its AI video rollout. Each clip carries a disclaimer at the bottom alerting viewers that the content is AI-generated.
Its analysts opt to appear in such videos, which are mainly made to share research insights with existing clients in an increasingly popular, straightforward format.
“We publish about 50,000 documents a year, [but video production] has been fixed at about 1,000 a year, because that’s basically our studio capacity. But the number of views on those videos has gone up dramatically,” Solomon said.
This also means that while the bank plans to make more AI-generated videos of analysts, it’ll complement research documents and videos with live analysts.
UBS’ video endeavor is still in its early days, but if it proves successful, it could encourage other banks to consider using their analysts’ time similarly.
