FinLight - Illuminate Your Financial Journey

In today’s fast-paced world, financial literacy isn’t just important - it is essential. With high living costs and economic uncertainties prevailing in Singapore, 55.2% of adults consider themselves financially illiterate.^#¹ This gap has led to poor decision-making and eroded trust in the financial sector, underscoring the urgent need for enhanced financial education. Traditional education methods and online course approaches often fall short, lacking personalisation and accessibility needed to make a significant impact.

To address these challenges, a dynamic team comprising of data scientists from A*STAR’s Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC) and financial literacy domain experts from the Institute for Financial Literacy (IFL), jointly developed FinLight - an AI-based chatbot Q&A platform for financial literacy.

FinLight is a cutting-edge financial literacy platform that leverages advanced AI technologies, such as Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and Large Language Models (LLMs), to provide personalised, real-time financial education. The platform addresses the need for effective and engaging financial literacy programs, which are often limited to theoretical knowledge and generic content. FinLight delivers tailored guidance that aligns with each user’s specific financial goals, preferences, and learning style, fostering informed decision-making and long-term financial well-being.

Features

Personalisation: Content is customised based on user demographics, financial goals, and learning preferences. Users receive specific, actionable financial advice that is relevant to their current needs.
Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF): FinLight continuously improves by incorporating feedback from financial literacy master trainers. This ensures that responses remain accurate, practical, and aligned with expert knowledge.
Interactive and Engaging: The platform integrates videos, articles, and interactive content to enhance user engagement, making financial education more accessible and practical.
Scalability: Designed to accommodate a broad user base, FinLight offers 24/7 access, making it ideal for individuals from all walks of life, including students, working professionals, and retirees.

The Science Behind

FinLight’s architecture combines multiple AI components to efficiently manage and deliver financial literacy content. The system processes diverse content types (text, videos, images) through a language model, generating semantic embeddings that capture the meaning of the content. These embeddings are stored in a vector database, which serves as the backbone of FinLight's content retrieval system.

(a) FinLight architecture as a RAG-LLM web application. (b) RLHF based LLM model used.

FinLight’s development is driven by a multidisciplinary team with expertise spanning data science, financial literacy, and human behaviour. Researchers from A*STAR’s Institute of High Performance Computing bring extensive knowledge in AI, machine learning, and natural language processing. Meanwhile, financial literacy experts from the Institute for Financial Literacy (IFL) offer deep insights into financial education, along with practical experience in training and content development. Additionally, the inclusion of behavioural science experts ensures that FinLight not only educates users but also effectively influences positive financial behaviours.

In summary, FinLight offers a dynamic, AI-driven solution to enhance financial literacy education. Its combination of personalised learning, expert feedback integration, and broad accessibility makes it an ideal platform for individuals and educational institutions. By addressing the unique financial needs of each user, FinLight promotes long-term financial well-being and contributes to greater economic stability.

Applications and Benefits

Enhance Traditional Learning: FinLight supplements traditional financial literacy programs by offering personalised, on-demand access to educational resources. This empowers users to engage more deeply with course materials and offers educators AI-driven insights to enrich classroom instruction.
Support Online Courses: The platform enhances online learning by providing real-time, AI-driven assistance that curates relevant content from various sources (videos, websites, documents) and delivers instant answers to student queries. This makes the learning experience more interactive and practical.
24/7 Accessibility: FinLight transcends traditional educational constraints by providing round-the-clock access to personalised financial education, allowing users to learn at their own pace and convenience. This is particularly beneficial for individuals facing time or geographical limitations.

Glossary
#1: 7 Financial Literacy Statistics in Singapore: Survey Findings (2024)

IHPC Tech Hub

FinLight - Illuminate Your Financial Journey

A*STAR celebrates International Women's Day