Smarsh, the Portland, Ore.-based technology firm that captures and retains communications, announced a partnership today with OpenAI to bring its capture technology to ChatGPT Enterprise.
ChatGPT Enterprise is the business version of OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT, focusing on those areas of interest to businesses. Financial advisory firms use it for scheduling client meetings, checking on industry trends, creating marketing materials, and other services.
The communication between firms and ChatGPT Enterprise could be considered as outside communication. Regulators do not require firms to monitor and maintain those conversations' records. However, many believe it is an inevitability that regulators will start to require it.
Advisors want to get ahead of that and put a system in place now to begin capturing and securing those communications, according to Brandon Carl, vice president of AI and product strategy at Smarsh.
To accommodate them, Smarsh’s partnership with OpenAI will allow it to begin offering that communication technology service for those firms that use ChatGPT Enterprise.
“We enable customers to easily capture the communications of employees with ChatGPT Enterprise, and this is important to a variety of stakeholders within firms like compliance teams, information securities teams, and risk management functions,” he said in an interview.
The technology captures the communications and stores it in accordance with the current books and records requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Carl said. It will also allow for supervision of that communication if a firm is interested.
“You would have what you need today to basically operate under the books and records requirement, and if you chose to supervise those communications you can do that as well,” he said.
In addition to allowing firms to get ahead of any future regulations coming down the pike, the technology also helps firms monitor how their employees are using ChatGPT Enterprise and if they are doing so in an appropriate fashion.
Smarsh sees the release of the new technology as a key to helping financial advisors unlock the potential of AI without having to worry about the regulatory implications.
“This partnership is a major step forward for the financial services industry, which has been wary of rolling out generative AI solutions due to regulatory uncertainty and lack of defensible, enterprise-grade controls,” said Goutam Nadella, chief product officer at Smarsh, in a release. “Financial services organizations looking to use ChatGPT for improved employee productivity can soon do so while staying compliant with regulations.”
The tool is currently available to the industry for a cost, which will depend on the volume of communications, Carl said.