Webinar

This session will explore how the rise of artificial intelligence is opening new pathways for the digital financial inclusion of low-income, marginalized rural actors, helping to mitigate and circumvent many of the traditional barriers that limit these actors’ capacity to access a range of different financial services (such as credit, savings and insurance) adapted to their specific needs. Such barriers include low access to collateral, poor financial education, the absence of a credit history, a lack of basic documentation, and several others. 

While the use of AI in financial systems is still in a nascent stage, we can already witness various pilot applications of this technology that appear to hold considerable promise when it comes to addressing these constraints, and can thereby contribute to a more equitable, comprehensive, and efficient growth of financial inclusion in developing and emerging countries.  

Building on the insights drawn from a recently published FAO study on the topic of AI and rural finance, this webinar will reunite a range of expert panelists that will illustrate the core insights and takeaways derived from recent work they have carried out on this topic – both theoretical and practical. 

The webinar seeks to achieve two objectives: first, it aims to showcase different lines of AI innovation that hold particular promise to narrow the gap in rural financial inclusion, including enhanced credit risk scoring, biometric authentication for marginalized financial consumers, AI chatbots and AI-powered agricultural insurance. Secondly, it will provide a stage to discuss the possible risks and pitfalls associated with the emergence of AI in rural finance, such as the emergence of intrinsic biases in machine learning models that can lead AI-powered solutions to actually become instruments of further marginalization of low-income, rural actors.  

• Region Europe
• Country Italy
• Language English
• Keywords Rural Finance