SofI says AI has a bias against women and money: Wealthtech Weekly

SoFi wants to teach AI what financially successful women look like with some help from Taylor Swift: Wealthtech Weekly

June 23, 2023 5:04 PM

SoFi says when it comes to the idea of women achieving financial success, artificial intelligence has the wrong idea.

To fix that, the California-based digital personal finance company is launching a new campaign that involves education, equal representation and free tickets to catch one of the world's biggest pop stars live in concert.

On Thursday, SoFi announced "Face of Finance," a new effort created to challenge the bias of AI against women and money. According to the company, when asking for AI tools to generate realistic images of people who are good with money, only 2% of the thousands of images depicted women.

Buit according to SoFi, data shows that is far from an accurate portrayal. A McKinsey & Co. study finds that women control at least $10 trillion in assets, and that number is projected to rise within the next three to five years.

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Meanwhile, a 2021 Fidelity analysis finds that women's rate of return on investments has been found to be higher than their male counterparts, and Experian reports that men carry more credit card, personal loan and auto loan debt than women.

SoFi leaders say AI is powered by data, and that data reflects the gender bias society sees with respect to women and personal finances. For SoFi Chief Marketing Officer Lauren Stafford Webb, the time to change that narrative is now.

"At SoFi, we're on a mission to help our members achieve financial independence to realize their ambitions — and that means all members," she said. "90% of women manage financial decisions for their households, and women's portfolios are known to outperform their male counterparts."

As part of the campaign, SoFi wants to retrain AI in regards to women in finance. The organization will capture imagery of real women excelling in the financial space, as well as amplify the profiles of female financial experts in an effort to begin to retrain AI.

To support their effort, SoFi launched two pop-up photo booth experiences at Brookfield Place in New York City on Thursday and Friday. Individuals who identify as women were given the opportunity to take pictures via the photo booth that will be returned into an AI model to drive more equal representation of women participating in personal finance activities.

Participants who shared their shots online using the hashtag #SoFiSweeps were also given the chance to win a pair of tickets to a Taylor Swift Concert at SoFi Stadium.

As part of their "Face of Finance" commitments, SoFi is also making a pledge to feature equal gender representation in current imagery and content creation; and invest in educational resources to provide all members access to financial literacy education.

To learn more about the "Face of Finance" campaign visit SoFi.com/change.

Scroll down to get caught up on other recent fintech news you might have missed in our Wealthtech Weekly recap. And check out the previous edition here.

Future Proof opens call for wealthtech demo showdown

As Advisor Circle and Ritholtz Wealth Management ramp up for the second annual Future Proof Festival, they're calling on all fintech innovators to bring their best ideas to the stage.

This week, the minds behind the beach-based wealth management festival have announced the return of the Future Proof Fintech Demo Drop, an opportunity that gives seven selected fintech companies a chance to demo live on the event's main stage.

In addition, each presentation will have its audio and video professionally recorded, edited and published to the Future Proof YouTube channel for digital distribution to more than 200,000 financial services professionals.

Applications to become one of the seven providers featured at Future Proof will be accepted now through July 7th by clicking this link. Any company building fintech tools and products is invited to apply.

The seven companies who will present at Future Proof will be selected by a judging committee of industry experts who will evaluate each fintech applicant based on creativity, outside-the-box thinking and the ability to create a real impact for the Future Proof audience.

There is no cost to apply and to demo your fintech at Future Proof.

"Future Proof Festival is all about what's next in finance, and the Fintech Demo Drop is where the magic happens. It's like a high-tech show-and-tell where bright minds show off their latest, greatest tech," Matt Middleton, CEO of Advisor Circle, said in a statement. "This is the perfect chance for fintech companies to step into the spotlight, show us what they've got, and really make an impact."

Michael Batnick, managing partner at Ritholtz Wealth Management, said innovation in technology continues to increase each year, and advisors have the ability to introduce new ways to help their clients make better decisions.

"The Fintech Demo Drop is a great way for advisors to quickly discover a solution for their clients in an engaging format," Batnick said. "It's one of the most talked-about sessions at Future Proof, and I can't wait to see the most cutting-edge tools presented in person to a massive audience."

Those selected to showcase will be announced on July 26th.

The inaugural Future Proof event attracted more than 2,200 people to Surf City. Future Proof 2023 will return to the beach Sept. 10-13.

Shaping Wealth provides free access to outsourced chief behavioral officer platform

Chicago-based behavioral finance consultancy Shaping Wealth is expanding the scope of its outsourced chief behavioral officer learning and development platform.

The subscription-based program gives users a regular flow of applied behavioral insights and tools designed to be easy to understand and easy to share with clients. Now, select content resources will be available free of charge through the proprietary dashboard.

The service includes weekly, monthly and quarterly content resources. Shaping Wealth says the service doesn't require installing any software or managing an integration. Instead, it is accessed by logging in via a web browser.

"The tailwind for practical behavioral insights and tools in the wealth industry is global and it is strong," Brian Portnoy, founder of Shaping Wealth, said in a statement. "According to McKinsey's recent industry analysis, over the next decade, advisors will become more like integrated life/wealth coaches. While we can confirm that this shift is starting to happen, we still question how advisors will be able to train, at scale, in disciplines like the psychology of financial planning, applied behavioral finance, and positive psychology.

"In our view, the 'soft' skills are the hardest to obtain and maintain."

Along with Portnoy, Shaping Wealth co-founders Neil Bage and Joy Lere develop content with the focus of individual growth, team building and client engagement.

Broadridge secures patent for machine learning tech

Broadridge Financial Services has locked down a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the machine learning technology that helps financial advisors target securities-based lending borrowers.

Mike Alexander, president of wealth solutions at Broadridge, said the patent supports Broadridge's commitment to providing wealth management firms and their advisors with products in wealth lending to meet increasing demand.

"We are focused on harnessing the industry data in our systems to help make financial advisors more productive and using that insight to align investors with the services they want," Alexander said. "We are proud to see this formal acknowledgement of the true innovation taking place at Broadridge as we make a real contribution to our customers' growth."

Broadridge partnered with its client The Bancorp Bank to train and productionize machine learning models to deliver borrower insights at the enterprise and advisor level.

"We are delighted to see the positive results of our joint efforts with Broadridge to foster securities based lending growth at The Bancorp," Jeff Hazelwood, managing director and head of banking solutions at The Bancorp, said in a statement. "By delivering the right products to the right clients, we deepen our client relationships while making our business more efficient."