Airwallex’s CEO isn't worried about AI

Airwallex's CEO, Jack Zhang, remains unfazed by AI replacing global finance, but he is deeply concerned about cybersecurity. Zhang founded the Australian fintech company Airwallex, which enables businesses to make cross-border payments and manage finances across numerous countries. The company is evolving into an agentic finance entity.

Zhang discussed his company's use of AI to develop systems that assist businesses in managing their finances, essentially creating an AI-managed CFO office. The company primarily uses ChatGPT and Claude for AI, but they are also exploring proprietary models using open-weight solutions. Zhang believes that AI won't be advanced enough to completely replace humans in his field, stating, "The laws still require you to have somebody sign off as auditor, and how the auditor does that sign-off can be assisted by agents."

He emphasized that he doesn't think we can eliminate the human element entirely. Zhang is "very, very, very, very worried" about cybersecurity. With news of cyber breaches surfacing frequently, Airwallex is addressing the issue by implementing behavioral monitoring and recruiting experts from the Australian Department of Defence and Palantir.

Zhang stated, "We're moving hundreds of billions of dollars today... We're constantly paranoid about how good our defense against this type of threat."