Applied AI in finance: 4 creative ways to use GenAI

For years now, finance leaders have been inundated with chatter of how AI will change everything. Most of them have tried out the popular tools, using them to draft the occasional email or to pull key insights from dense reports or transcripts.

But they’re still on the hunt for more innovative uses of AI that will help them in their day to day. What are the annoying, time-consuming tasks that these tools can handle for finance today? Our new Applied AI in finance series offers advice on just that. Let’s get into it:

1. Run deep benchmark analysis in minutes

Instead of spending hours digging through Google to piece together competitor benchmarks, finance leaders can now use the new Deep research function in ChatGPT (or their favorite GenAI chatbot) to generate sector-specific reports.

Nicolas Boucher, a leading expert on AI in finance and the founder of AI Finance Club, explained that companies can include revenue ranges, verticals, and geographic scope to get detailed insights that are hyper-relevant to their business and structured in a way that’s easy to understand—tables with top-quartile medians and KPI ranges—in minutes.

Example: Boucher asked ChatGPT to provide specific financial and operational benchmarks for midsize SaaS companies with annual revenue of $10–$50 million. The chatbot followed up with questions that further refined the output to recent performance among U.S.-based fintech companies. In addition to the high-level overview of numbers shown below, ChatGPT supplied detailed breakdowns of each metric and the sources for the data.

2. Create compelling visuals without any design help

Finance presentations are notoriously dry, but leaders can spice them up and help other departments quickly grasp key takeaways by using AI to create images. Now, leaders can feed ChatGPT screenshots or tables and prompt it to generate slide-ready visuals in colors and styles that match their brand guidelines. This gives them the ability to instantly create boardroom-level slides that look professional and polished—no design skills required.

Example: Boucher demonstrated how AI can quickly visualize that same benchmark data. Using ChatGPT’s Create image mode, he simply uploaded a screenshot of the benchmarks table along with notes for the desired color palette, tone (“modern and minimalistic”), and sizing specs. When one of the numbers didn’t display how he wanted, he used the Selector tool within the chatbot to highlight and explain what to change and it produced an updated version of the graphic.

3. Amp up internal comms with polished infographics

When finance teams roll a new policy, one of the biggest challenges is communicating it out to employees to drive adoption. Visuals can be a valuable tool in getting the message out, and GenAI can quickly spin them up. Finance teams can ask GenAI to create an infographic based on specific parameters, such as distribution channel (email, Slack, slide deck) and brand look and feel. Once they define the policy, the chatbot will suggest how to visualize it and generate drafts with the right colors—ideal for email comms or onboarding documentation.

Example: Boucher used the example of a company introducing a new invoice approval process. ChatGPT first suggests how to format the infographic, then prompts the user for the company-specific information it needs to produce it—workflow steps, timeframes, thresholds, etc. With those details and some guidance on brand colors, the Create image option spins up an easy-to-read infographic. A few details were slightly off, but the chatbot quickly corrected those to produce a ready-to-use version.

4. Translate data into messages the company remembers

When speaking to broader audiences at company town halls and all-hands meetings, tables full of numbers and busy graphs rarely land. Instead, leaders can leverage GenAI to create visuals that highlight key targets the entire company needs to work toward, Boucher noted. Think symbolic icons, strategic use of color, and emphasis on one powerful figure that sticks in the minds of the team.

Example: Imagine the CFO and their team are looking for ways to offset increasing price pressures and determine the best solution is to reduce standard costs by 5%. This is a critical goal that all employees need to work toward. So rather than showing a table or even a chart breaking down the data that a broad audience may tune out or struggle to follow, ChatGPT can create a graphic focused on this one target that’s presentation-ready.

Looking for more ways to leverage AI?

Check back here soon for more actionable advice on how finance and accounting teams can derive real value from AI.

For more tips on how your finance team can put AI into action, watch the full webinar with Boucher and join the 1 million+ people following him on LinkedIn.