In today’s digital age, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer just a futuristic concept—it’s becoming a powerful engine of change, especially in Cambodia’s financial landscape. For students and professionals in finance, it’s crucial to understand how AI is revolutionizing the way money moves, risks are evaluated, and services are delivered.

AI has found a solid foothold in Cambodia, quietly but steadily becoming a game-changer in the financial sector. While international banks may dominate headlines, it’s within local microfinance institutions (MFIs) and small businesses that AI is making its most profound impact.

Supporting the Core of Cambodia’s Economy

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and microfinance institutions are the economic backbone of Cambodia. These organizations provide jobs, support local development, and power rural livelihoods. As Cambodia moves deeper into the digital era, AI is emerging as a key ally, helping expand financial access and protecting the systems that support this essential ecosystem.

Why Cambodia Should Embrace AI in Finance?

AI uses smart algorithms to detect patterns in data, allowing for faster and more accurate decision-making. In finance, this means improved capabilities in risk assessment, fraud detection, loan approvals, and customer service personalization.

Read more: Can AI Break Free from Human Control by Rewriting Its Own Code?

One of the biggest challenges in Cambodia’s financial sector is accessibility. A large portion of the population, including small entrepreneurs, lacks formal credit histories. Many don’t possess traditional documentation like payslips or land titles, making it difficult to secure loans.

This is where AI shines. Instead of relying solely on conventional credit scores, AI leverages alternative data—like mobile phone usage, electricity payments, online sales, and mobile wallet activity—to create a financial profile. These insights enable financial institutions to make informed lending decisions, even for those without any borrowing history.

Take, for instance, a small grocery store owner in Siem Reap. She may never have taken out a loan, but she regularly uses mobile money and frequently tops up her mobile balance. Using AI, a lender can evaluate her digital footprint and classify her as a low-risk borrower. Thanks to this insight, she can now access financing to grow her business—an opportunity that would have been out of reach just a few years ago.

Beyond eligibility, AI also accelerates the lending process. Tasks that once took several days can now be completed in minutes. For small business owners, that kind of speed can be transformative.

AI as a Constant Digital Guardian

With the rise in digital payments in Cambodia comes an increase in cybercrime. Scams, phishing attacks, and fraudulent loans are on the rise. AI plays a vital role as an ever-vigilant digital watchdog.

AI-driven systems monitor financial transactions around the clock. They flag suspicious behavior—such as unusually large transfers at odd hours or login attempts from unrecognized devices. These intelligent systems can prevent fraud before it causes harm.

Read more: What is the Digital Community of Cambodia? Why You Need to Join?

AI also predicts potential cyber threats, giving banks and MFIs the ability to reinforce their cybersecurity measures proactively. This layer of invisible protection is especially important in a country where digital literacy is still evolving.

Think of AI as a tireless security guard—always alert, always protecting your financial assets.

Smarter, More Personalized Financial Services

AI’s benefits go beyond fraud prevention and loan processing. It allows financial institutions to better understand and serve their customers.

AI can help tailor financial services—such as creating custom savings plans or designing loan repayment schedules aligned with business cycles. For instance, a rice farmer in Takeo might receive a repayment schedule that aligns with the harvest season. A new borrower might get a smaller loan with a lower interest rate to help build their credit history gradually.

Customer support is also becoming more efficient thanks to AI-powered chatbots. These tools can answer questions in real-time—whether it’s checking your balance, inquiring about interest rates, or resetting a password. This round-the-clock accessibility reduces wait times and makes banking more convenient.

In addition, some fintech apps now use AI to offer basic financial literacy lessons, helping young Cambodians understand budgeting, saving, and debt management.

The Challenges We Must Address

Despite its many benefits, AI isn’t without its challenges. If data fed into AI systems is biased, incomplete, or incorrect, it can lead to unfair decisions—like rejecting a loan without a clear reason. This is known as the “black box” problem, where AI decisions lack transparency.

Read more: What is Cambodia’s National AI Strategy? Why Does It Matter for Your Business?

Moreover, developing a skilled workforce capable of managing and innovating with AI technology remains a hurdle for Cambodia. The country must invest in AI education and training to build local expertise and ensure the technology is used ethically and effectively.

Evidence of AI’s Growing Role in Cambodian Finance

Cambodia’s financial sector is already experiencing the real-world benefits of AI. Major institutions are adopting the technology:

• Wing Bank is exploring AI for fraud detection and personalized customer engagement.
• ACLEDA Bank has introduced automated risk profiling to make smarter loan decisions.
• Several microfinance institutions are now piloting AI chatbots that communicate in Khmer, making digital banking services more inclusive.

Fintech startups are also leveraging AI to offer instant loans to online sellers, using real-time sales data to assess creditworthiness. These innovations not only streamline business operations but also build trust and financial inclusion.

“AI is not just a tool for the future—it’s already making Cambodian finance more intelligent, inclusive, and secure,” says the author, Director of Macro Computing Solutions Co Ltd. With nearly two decades of experience across India, Singapore, France, and Cambodia, he collaborates with banks, MFIs, and development agencies on technology-led financial transformation.

Final Thoughts

Cambodia’s journey toward digital finance is no longer a distant dream—it’s unfolding now, powered by Artificial Intelligence. From improving access to capital for underserved communities to securing digital transactions and tailoring financial products, AI is helping to build a more inclusive and efficient financial system.

As Cambodia continues to embrace innovation, AI will be at the heart of shaping a smarter, safer, and more accessible financial future. The key now is to scale this impact responsibly, ensuring everyone can benefit from the technology—regardless of their background or income level.

What do you think about the rise of AI in Cambodia’s financial system? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!

In an interview aired on CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday, the 75-year-old pioneer of deep learning suggested that rapidly evolving AI systems could outsmart humans within just five years. “One of the ways these systems might escape control is by writing their own computer code to modify themselves,” Hinton said. “And that’s something we need to seriously worry about.”

Geoffrey Hinton, renowned as a “Godfather of AI,” has issued a stark warning: if not carefully managed, artificial intelligence could eventually surpass human control by modifying its own programming.

Hinton, a co-winner of the 2018 Turing Award for his groundbreaking work on neural networks, stepped down from his position as a vice president and engineering fellow at Google earlier this year. His decision was driven by a desire to speak openly about the dangers that advanced AI may pose.

He emphasized a critical concern within the AI research community: even the experts who created these systems don’t fully grasp how they function or evolve. “When this learning algorithm then interacts with data, it produces complicated neural networks that are good at doing things,” Hinton explained. “But we don’t really understand exactly how they do those things.” This lack of understanding is often referred to as AI’s “black box” problem — a term used by Google CEO Sundar Pichai in April.

While Hinton’s alarm has caught public attention, not all AI experts share his concern. Fellow Turing Award winner and AI pioneer Yann LeCun has dismissed such warnings, calling the idea that AI could overpower humanity “preposterously ridiculous.” LeCun believes humans will always be able to shut down technologies that pose a risk.

Still, Hinton remains wary. He acknowledged that AI has already brought significant benefits in fields like health care, but he stressed the darker side of the technology as well — particularly its role in spreading misinformation through fake images and videos online.

To address these challenges, Hinton is calling for intensified research into how AI systems operate, regulatory frameworks to govern their use, and global agreements to ban AI-controlled military weapons.

His views echo recent discussions on Capitol Hill, where top tech leaders — including Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman of OpenAI, and Mark Zuckerberg of Meta — explored ways to balance innovation with safety-focused regulations.

Whatever path governments and companies choose, Hinton warns time is of the essence. “Humanity is likely at a kind of turning point,” he said, urging leaders to decide “whether to develop these things further and what to do to protect themselves if they [do].”

In the end, Hinton’s outlook remains cautious: “I think my main message is there’s enormous uncertainty about what’s going to happen next.”