AI's Amplification Problem
Artificial intelligence will scale whatever exists inside your bank: clarity or confusion, discipline or drift. Be mindful of this before pursuing an AI solution.
Good morning, Bank Slaters!
How was your weekend? It was relatively quiet on our end — a necessity given all the work-related travel I have lined up over the coming weeks.
I spoke with Melinda Lucy at American Banker for her article on Darragh Buckley creating Increase Bank after buying a small Washington bank. I noted in the piece that the value in buying a bank “comes from obtaining the institutional status and control that Increase could not fully achieve by relying solely on third-party banks.” Increase, which works with fintechs such as Gusto, Pipe, Ramp, and Stripe, lists First Internet Bank and Grasshopper Bank as its bank partners.
I agreed to switch things up at FinovateFall. I will now be on a Sept. 11 panel discussing how to incorporate AI into your bank’s operating system. Theo Lau is the moderator; the other panelists are Mike Pressman at M&T Bank and Bryan Charlton at OtterAI.
Attending Finovate? Let’s catch up. Go to my calendar to set up a meeting.
Let’s talk about an overlooked issue with AI initiatives.
There’s an assumption embedded in almost every AI conversation happening in banking right now. Improvements will follow if you line up the right model, vendor, and use case.
After working with numerous community banks and credit unions, I’ve come to believe that assumption is misaligned and that AI is merely an amplifier that takes whatever exists at your institution — clarity or confusion, discipline or drift, culture or dysfunction — and turns up the volume to eleven.
