5 tech trends Intuit leaders are watching in 2023

As the calendar turns to 2023, Intuit’s leading technologists share the trends they’ll be watching closely. Ranging from the generative AI phenomenon, the rise in data protection regulations, and implications of Web3 for the fintech landscape, to how “thinking like criminals” will pay off for companies looking to stave off bad actors, Intuit leaders weigh in on what the future holds. 

The takeaway? Opportunities to catalyze innovation abound for tech companies.

Heading into the new year, Intuit’s technology experts share their points of view on the innovations set to take off in 2023 and beyond.

Generative AI needs maturing.

Generative AI is rapidly becoming more powerful and more prominent, popularized by chatbots and apps such as ChatGPT and Lensa, but it still needs to develop and mature before it can safely be used in industries where the accuracy of statements are critical, such as finance or medicine. Within the next several years, generative AI will likely play a pivotal role in helping create personalized conversational systems to provide financial or medical advice and guidance directly to customers. In the ideal scenario, generative AI could provide human experts financial insights in areas such as cash flow and money movement. 

Ashok Srivastava, SVP & Chief Data Officer

The rise in data protection regulations will catalyze tech innovation to solve privacy challenges.

Companies are being challenged to unlock the full potential of the data they possess in a safe, responsible, and compliant way, spurring opportunities for privacy-enhancing technology (PET) innovation. New methods of employing cryptography on data sets, and masking or transforming information to include less personally identifiable data, will enable more collaboration, analysis, and protective data sharing. Altogether, accelerating adoption of a privacy-by-design approach to product development. We’ll see a rise in investment in this technology to harness the power of information for consumers in a safer, more trustworthy way.

Elise Houlik, Chief Privacy Officer

Fintech market set to fundamentally change, driven by Web3 and tech acquisitions. 

The fintech market will see massive, fundamental changes from a variety of factors, including the advent of Web3 and from huge technology acquisitions that most believe will open up the Internet. Web3 will provide more control for users—digital ownership and a distributed Internet based on standards—that will fundamentally affect fintech by speeding decentralization. We’re going to see fewer building blocks in fintech, and these building blocks will be critical for companies and for those using embedded finance. We’ll see superhighways that become the consumer-trusted data and information connection between companies. 

Alex Balazs, SVP & Chief Architect

Thinking security-first will pay off for companies.

In a hyper-personalized world where companies are balancing the pressures of hyper-personalization and privacy within the context of regionally evolving regulations and customer expectations, there’s a fundamental shift in product development, with guardrails built in by design from the very beginning. Thinking like criminals think is becoming a common practice. Predicting how bad actors are going to behave becomes an integral part of product and business strategy. 

Companies that think about product security and risk up front—from day zero—and not treat it as an afterthought or when they’ve been hacked or attacked, will succeed. They’ll make the product experience better—great for customers and bad for criminals—and also design it in a way that’s delightful and responsible.  

Atticus Tysen, SVP & Chief Information Security Officer

AI will completely transform security models and the fight against risk and fraud.

We’re seeing AI and powerful data capabilities redefine the security models and capabilities for companies. Security practitioners and the industry as a whole will have much better tools and much faster information at their disposal, and they should be able to isolate security risks with much greater precision. They’ll also be using more marketing-like techniques to understand anomalous behavior and bad actions. In due time, we may very well see parties using AI to infiltrate systems, attempt to take over software assets through ransomware, and take advantage of the cryptocurrency markets. 

Ashok Srivastava, SVP & Chief Data Officer

To learn how Intuit is driving technology innovation with its global financial technology platform for customers with speed and at scale, check out this talk by Intuit Chief Technology Officer Marianna Tessel.