“AI won’t replace humans; but humans with AI will replace humans without AI.” These words, shared by Harvard University professor and author Karim Lakhani, reflect the current state of the tech industry as it embraces a reality in which AI is a must-have, not a nice-to-have.

Director of Data and Collateral Management Katie Pan has learned firsthand just how critical AI can be. The technology has radically redefined the ways in which she accomplishes daily tasks at Supernova Technology, whether that’s taking notes during an internal meeting or garnering feedback from consumers.

Yet, Pan noted, she and her peers proceed with caution when using AI. By taking a highly controlled, meticulous approach, she has been able to leverage the technology in such a way that has enabled her to do her job more effectively and stay one step ahead.

“Overall, AI is playing an increasing role in my day-to-day work so that I can focus more on fostering stronger support with clients and prospects, whiteboarding new feature ideas with team members and proactively identifying and mitigating risks before they bubble up,” Pan said.

Below, Pan shares more about how she leverages AI to drive efficiency without losing sight of responsibility.

ABOUT SUPERNOVA TECHNOLOGY

Founded in 2014, Supernova Technology offers securities-based lending solutions in an effort to “connect and empower the entire financial ecosystem.” The company’s products serve broker dealers, banks, registered investment advisors and technology providers.

How do you use AI in your day-to-day work, and what influence does it have on your work?

I use various AI-powered tools in my daily work for different tasks. For example, I use the Intelligent Recap feature within Microsoft Teams to automatically generate meeting summaries or action items. My teammates and I use a specialized tool to draft and refine product requirement documents, also known as release notes. I also use the tool to create a repeatable process for summarizing feedback collected via various methods, such as email and Jira tickets, and extract common themes or conflicting information more efficiently. I’m also actively exploring additional use cases of AI in preparing product training videos based on published product requirement documents and product marketing brochures based on request-for-proposal documents.

How does your team ensure AI is being leveraged responsibly?

We’re often trying to feed proprietary, private or sensitive data into an AI engine or tool in exchange for insight. There are always concerns around data security, privacy and access. At Supernova, we’ve taken the position of utilizing AI in a highly controlled environment by developing specialized tools using self-hosted and self-trained models. In the case where a third-party AI tool is needed, our information security team performs extensive due diligence before a tool can be whitelisted for employee usage. Data content has to be desensitized and cleaned before getting fed into any AI tool.

“At Supernova, we’ve taken the position of utilizing AI in a highly controlled environment by developing specialized tools using self-hosted and self-trained models.”

How has AI helped your team enhance customer research?

Supernova recently hosted a virtual user group conference, during which we invited actual users to share candid feedback about existing functions and about our upcoming product roadmap. Using AI, we were able to integrate meeting summaries with enterprise client profiles as well as integrate participant bios with a few prompts. The insights derived from this exercise actually revealed a misconception in our original user personas and introduced a brand new use case for which we have to create a more tailored marketing message.