Facing The Auditing Challenge: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, And Robotics In Financial Crime Compliance

This article was co-written with Shane Riedel, CEO of Elucidate.

Introduction

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes central to financial crime compliance -- powering fraud detection, transaction monitoring, and sanctions screening -- internal audit faces a new challenge: How do you provide assurance over something you cannot always see or explain? Does the internal audit function feel prepared for this challenge?

There is a great deal written about the use of AI to enhance the fight against financial crime, but less guidance is available for auditing those systems. The technologies provide powerful tools to detect suspicious activities with greater accuracy and speed than traditional methods. Reports forecast that the financial services sector will be one of the leading industries in AI investment, with billions dedicated annually to AI technologies. In 2027, the financial services industry is expected to spend just under $100 billion on AI, which represents