VIDEO | Responsible AI in trade finance: From buzzword to baseline - Trade Treasury Payments

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At the ITFA Americas Annual Conference in Miami, Trade Treasury Payments (TTP) spoke with Mo Hasan, Founder and CEO of Intupower, to explore the ethical, institutional, and operational frontiers of artificial intelligence in trade finance.

Hasan, who has spent over two decades training executives at global organisations including the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank, pointed to a shift in how AI is being discussed at the policy and boardroom level. “Eighteen months ago, conversations were filled with fear and confusion about data, privacy, and the unknown,” he said. “Now, AI is squarely on the agenda. It’s a mainstream topic for banking leaders.”

That growing familiarity, however, hasn’t eliminated misconceptions. According to Hasan, one of the biggest is the belief that AI must be purchased off-the-shelf and adopted as-is. “Institutions often don’t realise that they can build highly tailored AI solutions that reflect their own policies, their institutional knowledge, and their specific use cases,” he said. “You don’t need to settle for a generic tool, you can develop a competitive advantage from your own data.”

The conversation also touched on the ethics of automation. Hasan argued that AI should be viewed as an opportunity to realign business goals. “Are you pursuing a project just because it makes money? Or can AI help you do more, with less impact, better governance, and more benefit to people and the planet?”

Hasan’s new book, The Last Human Generation, expands on this philosophy. Framed as a guide to surviving (and thriving) in the AI revolution, the book lays out a practical methodology for engaging with AI tools, particularly large language models. “We are the last generation of humans that will operate alone,” Hasan said. “AI is not here to replace us, it’s here to join us.”

As the trade finance sector continues to digitise, we have a chance to shape the tools that we will need to learn to work alongside.