As the financial services industry is integrating AI in its offerings, consumers are becoming more accepting of the technology in day-to-day banking. 

“AI has been around in financial services and banking for 20 years,” Scott Hofmann, chief revenue officer at GFT Americas, told Bank Automation News. “What’s changed the conversation is generative AI, which allows [the] majority of the people to touch, experience and feel it for yourself.” 

Nearly 44% of American consumers say they are happy with AI use in their personal banking experience, as long as financial institutions provide visibility into how the AI is functioning, according to a June 13 GFT report.

IT solutions provider GFT surveyed 2,000 Americans to understand their boundaries when it comes to AI in personal banking, the report stated. 

According to the survey, customers want AI to be deployed in the following cases; 

• 35% want AI in real-time fraud monitoring; 
• 25% want AI assistance in customer service inquiries; and 
• 18% want AI in everyday spending and saving advice. 

“Generative AI has more robust natural language processing to enhance fraud detection,” Hofmann said. “You can understand a little bit more about an individual customer’s behavior, like movement behavior, vacation behavior, so that you can more accurately predict whether an individual transaction is fraudulent or not.” 

Consumers are also open to using AI for customer service, as it can offer a self-service option for their financial needs, Hofmann said. 

When customers need a quick piece of information about their finances or from a website, a chatbot functions well, he said. For a complex transaction, customers prefer talking with a human.  

With AI in customer service, it “comes down to what it is you’re trying to accomplish, and then driving the right channel for it, and AI can help in determining potentially what that channel is for you ahead of time,” Hofmann said. 

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler sounded alarms about how unchecked use of AI in investing could spark financial meltdowns in a March 19 Politico Tech podcast episode. However, many financial institutions and fintechs, including Envestnet, TD Bank and US Bank have rolled out robo-advisers in recent years. 

While AI-backed algorithms can drive positive investments, the reality is that “the investor wants to hear a human being just say at the end of the day ‘You’re doing great,’” Hofmann said. 

To drive AI adoption among customers, financial institutions can provide the workings for an AI model in a “transparent way, what you’re collecting, why you’re collecting it and how it provides advantage to that particular customer,” Hofmann said. 

Early-bird registration is now available for the inaugural Bank Automation Summit Europe 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany on Oct. 7-8! Discover the latest advancements in AI and automation in banking. Register now.