Conversational AI is rewriting financial leadership

In its current state, AI is both hyper-visible and invisible. 

It demands attention; inspiring thousands of editorials (I’m willing to bet this isn’t the first AI think piece you’ve come across today), offering constant predictive responses, and summarising every web search. But it’s also unseen; monitoring billions of transactions, curating social feeds, and filtering threats before you even notice. 

The synthesis of visible user-facing AI features and invisible, backend autonomous workflows marks the next frontier of business finance – where AI doesn’t just assist with tasks, but manages them intelligently.  

Turning AI from a tool to an intelligent partner

The application of AI has rapidly progressed from customer-facing support use cases and efficiency solutions, into systems that contextually understand your business, anticipate needs, and take actions independently. 

What I find most compelling is how this shift from AI tool to partner will redefine the relationship between people and technology – unlocking entirely new ways of operating across every function. It represents the next major leap in how organisations operate and make decisions.

There’s a natural tension when we apply this thinking to business finance. In the future, AI systems won’t just reconcile financial data or detect anomalies. They will manage liquidity and forecast cash flow in real time – for example, projecting the cash impact of expanding into a new market and recommending when to move funds across currencies to minimise FX exposure.

The trust gap is closing

Research released in April from The University of Melbourne and KPMG found that while 50% of Australians regularly use AI, only 36% trust it, highlighting a national sense of caution. Yet, when you look specifically at business leaders, the sentiment shifts dramatically. A new study commissioned by Airwallex, set for release later this month, suggests that Australian executives are far more bullish on AI’s potential. In fact, 91% of business decision-makers believe the greater risk lies not in adopting AI, but in delaying it, citing operating costs, competitiveness, and productivity as the areas most at stake.

Finance is a key area in which AI is being embraced. For years, institutional banking and manual oversight equalled corporate trust. But as the complexity of business grows, and speed becomes a competitive advantage, leaders are realising that human diligence alone can’t scale; more than four in five respondents reported adoption of AI across financial operations.

The rise of conversational finance

Business finance has evolved through four distinct eras:

• Manual management: Traditional banking systems and spreadsheet-based processes.

• Digitisation: The rise of SaaS finance tools and cloud-based services.

• Automation: Integrated systems that manage routine workflows.

• Autonomy: The emerging era of AI agents that act on our behalf.

We’re standing on the edge of that fourth phase. 

We’re reaching a point where instead of clicking through dashboards and reports, business leaders will soon chat to their financial systems. Imagine asking a question in plain language, “Why were expenses higher this quarter?”, and receiving a graphical breakdown by department, with anomalies flagged, and suggestions for optimisation – all in seconds. Respond with the suggestions you’d like to action; AI will take it from here.

I expect to see more financial services accessible through intelligent interfaces, powered by AI language models. “Does this purchase order match the invoice?”, “Should I move funds now or wait for a better FX rate?”, “Please sweep surplus cashflow into the investment account”. 

Your AI partner can verify documents, track transactions, model future cash positions, and even suggest where to park idle funds for better returns until FX rates improve in your favour. While much of this happens automatically, users can always dive under the hood to see how decisions are made, validate assumptions, and make adjustments. In finance, visibility and transparent decision making are key – AI will enhance, not replace that control.

This innovation is emerging rapidly, which may spark excitement in some and anxiety in others. We’ve all seen businesses fail to adapt to new technologies and struggle to stay competitive as a result, however, I would argue that AI is different. Unlike previous technological shifts, this one doesn’t require user retraining. AI is emulating tasks that reduce the dependency on human expertise, and can guide users towards contextual understanding and informed decision making. And even better, you don’t need to seek this technology out. It’s coming to you.

Never used ChatGPT before? No problem. Existing services you are using, like Google for example, are already introducing similar technology to share information with you. Instead of the ‘10 blue links’ returned in your search results, Google search now summarises the answers you’re seeking through natural human language. Technology companies are fighting for your attention, so they will make it as easy as possible for you to get on the AI train. Airwallex is no exception. We’re building an autonomous financial agent that is safe, accountable, and keeps you in control. My job is to make it as easy as possible for you to adopt this system. 

A new era of financial leadership

The CFO of tomorrow won’t just analyse data – they’ll collaborate with intelligent systems that manage it. As AI takes over the repetitive, the CFO’s role becomes more strategic than ever.

Finance is poised to completely shift to this new model, from visible applications to invisible intelligence. These capabilities will bring you closer to your own data, help you uncover insights, and remove barriers that slow down decision-making. And of course, they’ll save you an unimaginable amount of time. Using AI as a trusted collaborator will profoundly impact how businesses operate – and feel as natural as having a conversation.