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Consumers Trust Robots For Surgery Over Savings, Research Finds (bloomberg.com)

An anonymous reader shares an article: Andy Maguire faces a challenge: tasked with upgrading HSBC's digital-banking systems, he has discovered that customers are twice as likely to trust a robot for heart surgery than for picking a savings account. "I do find it slightly odd," said the chief operating officer of Europe's largest bank, referring to its survey of more than 12,000 consumers in 11 countries published this week. Just 7 percent of respondents would trust a robot with their savings, versus the 14 percent willing to submit to a machine for heart surgery. "You think, gosh, one would've imagined the world had moved on further or was moving faster than that," Maguire said in an interview. While consumers tend naturally to trust medical professionals, the "bar is pretty high" for banks dealing with people's money, he said. Banks around the world are spending billions of dollars to bolster creaking computer systems in a push to ward off startup competitors and cut long-term operating expenses. But consumers and regulators are holding them to ever-higher standards of security and convenience, driving the cost of overhauls higher and potentially eroding any savings.

11 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Maybe by Daetrin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Would that be because the hospital has no good ulterior motive to direct the robot to screw up your surgery, but a bank may very well have ulterior motive to direct your funds to an account that benefits them more than it does you?

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    1. Re:Maybe by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Insightful

      For heart surgery, you have to trust someone or something else. You can't do it yourself. So I would trust either a human or a robot, and choose whichever has the best track record.

      But picking a savings account? Why can't I just do that for myself? I wouldn't trust a "robot**", but I would trust a human "financial advisor" even less, since they have no fiduciary duty to act in my best interest.

      **Pet peeve: People using the word "robot" to describe a purely software program. No mechanical components are needed to recommend a savings account, so it is NOT a "robot". It is just a "program".

    2. Re:Maybe by shaitand · · Score: 2

      The banks AI has a conflict of interest. The same with your stock broker. There is always some pattern of investing/trading/saving/spending that would generate more profit for them and that they could spin as being harmless or in your interest if caught.

  2. Holding them to ever-higher standards of security by sconeu · · Score: 2

    But consumers and regulators are holding them to ever-higher standards of security and convenience, driving the cost of overhauls higher and potentially eroding any savings.

    Boo-hoo! We can't just ignore good security practices and pocket the money! Those nasty unfair consumers and regulators!!!

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    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  3. I agree by sobachatina · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's about motives.

    I trust a surgeon is motivated to save me. A robot assisting him will therefore be working in his and my best interest.

    A bank is not motivated to save me money- their whole purpose is to extract money from me. Therefore a robot assisting them cannot be trusted to have my best interests in mind.

  4. Ever-higher standards of convenience? by SeattleLawGuy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you call a bank for help with random consumer matter X, on average they are wrong about how their own system works maybe 30-60% of the time.

    The only "higher standard of convenience" in the last few years is the ability to easily deposit checks via the average phone. Which is only useful for the few cases where people still send you checks.

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  5. Duh! by avandesande · · Score: 2

    Why would you ask a surgery robot what bank to choose?

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  6. Learned behavior, not natural by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    People don't "naturally" trust medical professionals. It's learned behavior acquired in societies where we see decades of the medical profession being policed and bitch slapped when they step out of line by more than a medium amount ... and also see decades of the financial profession getting away unscathed after literally causing global catastrophes.

    When HSBC gets put out of business after the next time they launder billions in criminal funds, then we'll talk about starting to trust the financial industry.

  7. Money is adversarial, surgery is cooperative by GuB-42 · · Score: 2

    With very few exceptions, everybody want your heart surgery to succeed. There isn't much to gain by messing you up.

    Money is different. As far as your savings account is concerned, it is a zero-sum game. The money you lost is money someone else gained, and vice versa. So there is a lot of incentive to mess up with your robot.

    It is easier to trust a robot when everyone is trying to make it better than when thousands of smart people are trying to turn it against you. It is possible to trick humans too but because humans are more diverse and adaptable, the return on investment is better when attacking robots.

  8. Will I need heart surgery? Of course not! by JOstrow · · Score: 2

    When responding to questions like these, people subconsciously factor in how much a situation is likely to apply to them. Almost nobody thinks they will need heart surgery, and it follows that they'd be more liberal/trusting in their responses. Almost everybody can imagine the problems a robot-controlled savings account would cause them personally. We are not objective.

  9. Re:Holding them to ever-higher standards of securi by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 2
    Higher than the bottom of the world's deepest well, is still "higher".

    I "trust" my bank as far as I can throw them. Hell, at least the Mafia admit to being criminals.

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