AI used to be something you prompted and waited on. Now it is executing trades and reshaping finance from the inside out. My next guest wrote a book on just that — the author of Future Money — and serves as Industry Chair for the Future of Finance and AI at the MENA Fintech Association. Ronit Ghose is with us live in New York City. Ronit, thanks and welcome to the show.
Thank you for having me.
Where are we really with fintech and AI right now? Is it mostly hype, or is real change happening in real time?
We have had AI in some form for 70 years. But the last three to four years are a revolution. Fintech is simply finance for the mobile phone age — it changed the interface. AI changes the front end and the back end. It is going to be truly revolutionary.
How is the Gulf stacking up against the US, Europe, and Asia when it comes to fintech and AI?
America and China are clearly leading when you look at fintech globally. But what you are seeing in the Gulf — specifically in the UAE — is deployment and adoption of fintech and AI at great scale. Whether it is YouTube, ChatGPT, any kind of new innovation — the Gulf is young. The average age in Dubai or Abu Dhabi or Riyadh is a lot younger than in London or New York. You have got a combination of youth, agency, and capital all coming together. What you are seeing particularly in the UAE is deployment.
Is Gulf sovereign wealth actually building home-grown innovation, or is the region still mostly building on what is built elsewhere?
The region has gone from being a provider of capital — just passive LP checks to the Valley or to New York — to being a more engaged partner. You cannot just show up and say, can I have some money? You have to co-locate, co-build, and work together. Many people who have built in fintech and AI and raised capital from the region now have a real presence — not just a mailbox or a P.O. box. They have people on the ground. Many now spend part or all of their time in the region. It is not just about taking capital from the region anymore.
What is the one shift in fintech or AI that investors, banks, and regulators are not paying enough attention to yet?
Two things. One is the classic Innovator's Dilemma — when you are sitting in a bank with billions of dollars of revenue and trillions of balance sheet at risk, it is very hard to innovate. The Gulf advantage is that many of the leaders do not have very large institutions they have to defend — they are willing to take agile risks. The second thing is that we tend to think of finance as humans talking to humans. But most of finance is increasingly machine to machine. And what we still do not know is how that is all going to play out. What does regulation look like? What does money look like in a world where it is machine to machine? That is the really interesting, kind of sci-fi future. And it is coming.
What is America missing in this innovation race?
America is still an amazing place for innovation. What makes America great in this space is that it has been a global platform — it imports talent and capital, and then re-exports innovation, services, and products. And it sells equity stories very effectively back to the world. That is really interesting about the US angle.
Thank you so much, Ronit.
Thank you for having me.
