E91 - Dr Michael Kollo - Explainable AI’s Place in Investment Fund Management and Superannuation

If someone told you something like;


“If you leave your house tomorrow, something bad will happen.”


What would you do?

You’d probably either be horribly confused, slightly offended, or
maybe you’d even laugh, thinking it was all some big joke. Either
way, you’re left with no explanation.


So, obviously, you ignore the encounter. Whether or not something
bad happens the next day is a whole other story.


Without understanding how this stranger arrived at this
conclusion, you have no reason to believe them.


Then, how easily do you believe a machine learning model without
knowing how it came to the results that it did? Or do you need an
explanation?
Meet Michael Kollo

Michael’s Role as a Data Science Leader at Qurious
Analytics


Dr. Michael G. Kollo is the Founder of Qurious Analytics. Qurious
Analytics aims to breach the gaps formed from the lack of
technical expertise and effective communication skills through
research, education and mentoring for both technical and
non-technical audiences.


Michael is a seasoned executive and quant from the asset
management industry. He has led research teams at Blackrock,
Fidelity, Renaissance Asset Management, and more recently in Axa
Investment Managers and Hesta, a 60bn asset owner in Australia.
As well as leading quantitative research and investment teams in
London, San Francisco and now Sydney, he recently joined an AI
technology startup as Chief Economist, dealing with the impact of
automation technologies on the global workforce and industries.
Michael is known in the industry as an AI and quantitative
expert, both in the fields of asset management and technology
startups. He frequently speaks at conferences, both locally and
globally on topics of intelligent systems, forecasting in
financial markets, ethical AI, reasoning systems and
explainability, and impact of automation in global workforces and
economies.
Michael’s Other Work in the AI Industry

Michael obtained his PhD from the London School of Economics,
Imperial College and at the University of New South Wales. He was
the Chief Examiner for the external finance programme of the
London School of Economics, and the Adjunct Professor at Imperial
College where he taught Quantitative Finance in the Masters
stream. He has also mentored Fintech and CyberTech startups in
London through the Barclays Accelerator programme.


On top of that, Michael is a published author in both academic
and private sectors, with thought leadership pieces, white
papers, and the opening chapter in the best selling "Big data and
machine learning in quantitative investment.” Michael writes
regularly for industry publications on the topic of AI and
alternative data. He is also a regular speaker at global
quantitative research and institutional industry events.
Explainable AI, AI adoption, and Quant

In this exclusive analytics podcast episode, Michael shares:


How human trust is under threat with rise of AI

Research topics that have stuck with Mike and how quickly the
world changes with AI

His background and work in AI in the Quant field

How AI adoption is progressing in the background, especially
in investment fund management and superannuation

Main reasons for the lack of adoption of AI in these
industries

How explainable AI plays a part in these industries

A case study of when explainable AI was critical to success
in these industries

What area he would focus on if he was starting his career
today

What he would tell his 20-year-old self if he could



If you are in the executive management team in the financial
industry trying to understand how to improve AI adoption in your
organization, this is the episode you do not want to miss out on.