- DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION COUPLED WITH THE SIMPLIFIED AVAILABILITY OF DATA BRINGS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) CLOSER TO COMMERCIAL USE. FOR THE DATADRIVEN FINANCIAL INDUSTRY, AI IS OF INTENSIVE INTEREST WITHIN PILOT PROJECTS. STILL, FEW AI APPLICATIONS HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTED SO FAR. THIS STUDY ANALYZES DRIVERS AND INHIBITORS OF A SUCCESSFUL AI ADOPTION IN THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY BASED ON PANEL DATA COMPRISING 22 SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS WITH EXPERTS OF AI IN FINANCE, INCLUDING INTERVIEWEES FROM LEADING SOFTWARE PROVIDERS SUCH AS SAP, IBM, SALESFORCE, AND MICROSOFT. FOR APPLYING AI SUCCESSFULLY, THE GUIDELINES REVEAL SEVERAL DATA CONDITIONS, AI-SPECIFIC ROLE MODELS, AND OVERCOMING MORAL CONCERNS AS CRUCIAL BEFORE TRAINED ALGORITHMS WILL HAVE REACHED A QUALITY LEVEL TO OPERATE WITHOUT HUMAN INTERVENTION.