------------------------------
John Tyson
CFO;Chief Financial Officer
Altamaha Bank & Trust Company
Vidalia, GA
------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 05-09-2022 11:12
From: Rob Blackwell
Subject: Tuesday Topic: Am I The Only One Skeptical of AI?
It feels like I can't go a day without reading about how great artificial intelligence is for banks. And yet why is it I always feel like what's "great" about it is really some future promise of value as opposed to actual usage right now?
Let's take this article by The Financial Brand as an example. It analyzed five of the most promising use cases for AI. The first one it mentions is improving chatbots. I guess? I keep hearing about how great chatbots are, but I have yet to see one that was better than actually talking to a human being. I tried using one just last week to buy a new phone for my teenage daughter. It was a complete disaster. I will grant that Bank of America's Erica may be better than whatever Verizon is using, but it still feels like more of the promise of a future tech than something valuable now.
The article also cites internal efficiencies, helping with lending and credit decisions, and helping customers take "a more personalized customer journey." And it mentions its use for fraud and cybersecurity, something I acknowledge is probably a great use case for AI. The article backs this up with data, and I have no issues with it. But I can't help but feel I read the same thing last year, or the year before that, or five years ago.
Maybe it's just me. Do you see short- and long-term opportunities for AI in banking? Is your bank using it for something now? Or do you see an opportunity on the horizon with it? Please let me know. I'd love to be wrong about my AI skepticism.
------------------------------
Rob Blackwell
Chief Content Officer and Head of External Affairs
IntraFi Network
Arlington, VA
------------------------------