Furthermore, she issued a warning, comparing generative artificial intelligence to the “kid who got a ‘F’ in math.”

At the 27th Annual Milken Institute Global Conference in California, Jenny Johnson, the CEO and President of Franklin Templeton, a financial firm with $1.6 trillion in assets under management, reaffirmed her support for blockchain technology in an interview with Bloomberg anchor David Westland.

Johnson had a lot to say on tokenization and generative AI, two of the hottest topics the two were discussing.

Tokenization

Johnson responded quickly when asked how tokenization helped Franklin Templeton. “Let me start by saying that I adore blockchain technology.”

She gave an example of how the business processed account records for six to eight months utilizing both blockchain technology and conventional ways in a side-by-side experiment. According to Johnson, the outcomes were quite encouraging. “We were shocked by how much less expensive running it on blockchain was.”

Johnson continued, saying:

We believe that this highly efficient technology will create several new investment opportunities. And to be very honest, I think that mutual funds and exchange-traded funds will eventually be on a blockchain.

She ascribed her forecast to the “huge costs” involved in cross-system data verification, an issue that blockchain was expressly created to address. Johnson went on to say that even once data is reconciled internally, stakeholders and financial institutions must still confirm data from outside sources.

“With blockchain, there’s only one source of truth,” the speaker declared.

According to Johnson, financial and time savings can result in more diverse investing options. She gave the example of pop sensation Rhianna, who issued a set of 300 NFTs that gave its owners a negligible portion of the song royalties through smart contracts.

Johnson has previously brought up this point. In an interview with CNBC’s Delivering Alpha, the CEO related the Rhianna anecdote and described tokenization as “securitization done on steroids,” as Cointelegraph wrote back in October of 2023.

Generative AI

Next, the topic of generative artificial intelligence came up. Johnson cautioned that generative AI systems were “kind of like the kid who gets an ‘A’ in English and an ‘F’ in math,” even though he acknowledged their value.

In addition to mentioning that Franklin Templeton and Microsoft had recently joined to develop an AI-powered sales assistant, the CEO also noted that there was investment potential in the field. She also praised the possibility for language hurdles in banking to be overcome by AI-powered translation services.