AI in Finance: Evolution, Not Revolution

• Expectations for AI in finance often outpace reality. The change will be transformative, but gradual.
• Humans naturally resist "Big Bang" changes; incremental adoption allows teams to adapt and build trust.
• Just like society normalized ChatGPT, finance teams will normalize AI tools as everyday assistants.
• The key to success is patience: incremental improvements compound into massive gains over time.

We often hear that AI is going to "change everything overnight." But as Ashok Manthena points out, while the pace of innovation is fast, the actual adoption in enterprise finance is "much more incremental." Three years ago, many predicted a total overhaul of finance by now. Instead, we are seeing a steady integration of new tools.

This isn't a failure of technology; it's a feature of human adoption. "We don't want the change to be that fast," Ashok explains. "We want it to be much more incremental so that we can cope up with it." Finance processes are complex and deeply ingrained. Ripping them out root and branch causes chaos. Layering intelligence on top of them, however, creates sustainable progress.

The ChatGPT Parallels

Ashok draws a brilliant parallel to how we accepted Generative AI in our personal lives. When ChatGPT launched, it was shocking. Now, it's just a tool we use to write emails or check facts. "We have accepted that fact... We don't think it as a big bang change. It's just incremental change that happened in our life."

The same psychological shift is happening in the CFO's office. First, it's an AI tool for expense categorization. Then, it's an agent for accruals. Before you know it, the entire function has transformed, but it happened one step at a time, allowing the team to grow *with* the technology rather than being replaced by it.

Possibility vs. Reality

Caitlin adds that three years ago, "it did not feel like the possibility was there." The mindset was one of "slogging through." Today, even if the tools aren't perfect yet, the *possibility* is undeniable. We know we can solve these problems now. This shift in belief is often the precursor to the shift in reality. We no longer have to accept manual drudgery as the status quo; we just have to be patient enough to implement the solution.