Page 5 - Spring 2024_Neat

Top Ten Trends Impacting Bank Technology for 2024

“Look at all those chickens!” - Popular Vine Meme

(First of a Two-Part Series)

BY JIMMY SAWYERS

Hardware gets a boost not seen in
Before TikTok there was Vine, and one of the more popular
decades as generative AI could triple
vine memes was of a little girl mesmerized by a flock of geese gathering
the market for servers and
around her, which led her to exclaim, “Look at all those chickens!”
semiconductors. The Rabbit R1 is
“Chickens” they were not, but the meme lives on and still makes me
essentially the iPod of early AI
laugh every time I see it.
hardware devices, showing us how
The meme reminded me of an old business fable about ham and egg AI can be incorporated into our
breakfasts. The chicken is involved, but the pig was truly committed. personal lives with these Large
Such is the case for bank technology ventures. A lot of eggs continue to Language Models (LLMs). However,
be laid, but true commitment has been rare. As bankers crank up the we’ve just scratched the surface of
due diligence requirements and regulators place renewed emphasis on AI applications in banking and in our Jimmy Sawyers is the co-founder
third-party risk management in 2024, successful tech providers will personal lives. of Sawyers & Jacobs LLC, a
have to show some commitment and sustainability. Commitment in consulting firm focused on serving
Watch out for many companies financial institutions. Sawyers &
the form of ownership and management having some skin in the game. engaging in “AI washing,” which Jacobs is an ACB Associate
Sustainability in performance and profitability for a solution that truly means a company is overstating its Member. Jimmy may be reached
is in demand and solves a problem for bankers.
AI capabilities and misleading at 901-487-2575 or email
I’m optimistic that 2024 will be the year that true innovators make the customers and investors to believe jsawyers@sawyersjacobs.com .
cut and emerge as valuable solutions to help bankers compete in a that AI AI is used extensively in its
market that demands world-class digital services but still values offerings. “I used ChatGPT to create this marketing piece” does not an
stability and trust. AI company make.
To help bankers clearly distinguish the chickens from the pigs, I offer In cybersecurity, AI presents opportunities and threats: opportunities in
the following predictions. that AI will allow more activity to be monitored and will help banks
detect malicious traffic earlier and take action to prevent or contain
Prediction #1
breaches, and threats in that hackers will use AI to launch more
The Robots Arrive as Artificial Intelligence (AI) Gains Unstoppable sophisticated and complex attacks. Data integrity will be key as
Momentum bankers scrub their data so it can be used effectively in AI applications.
Ready or not—AI is here. Smart bankers will devote research dollars to
AI hits the mainstream in 2024 and promises amazing productivity gains
combined with unimaginable progress, yet AI is not without risk. learning how AI can make their banks perform at a higher level. Are
Unintended consequences must be considered, and risk must be robot tellers on the near horizon?
mitigated and regulated, but make no mistake—AI will not be stopped. Challenge Question
Is Artificial Intelligence evaluation part of your bank’s strategic plan?
Microsoft’s multibillion dollar investment in ChatGPT maker-OpenAI
will birth more than just a few nifty computer tricks and productivity Prediction #2
gains. Already being tested as Amazon warehouse workers, expect
human-like robots to be the next evolution of AI. Bipedal and wheeled Microsoft’s Significance in Banking Expands with New M365 Features
robots will become commonplace for industrial and domestic use. I’ve
As more banks migrate their Microsoft applications to the cloud, we
had my robot dog, Astro, for almost one year. He rolls around my place will see expansion of Microsoft 365 use as new features are added that
and serves as an excellent guard dog when I’m away, offering me promise to enhance employee productivity and bring Artificial
mobile live views via my iPhone. More AI capabilities will be added to Intelligence to the desktop with its new aforementioned Copilot AI
Astro in the years to come, increasing his utility and my usage of his offering. As Microsoft Teams has been greatly refined over the past
services. year, we will see this tool skyrocket in usage and surpass Zoom as the

As noted in my 2017 predictions (“Artificial Intelligence will be the next videoconferencing leader.
big thing”), AI made its way into banking via Natural Language
Expect a few contrarian banks to attempt a move to Google, using the
Processing (NLP) driven by virtual assistants and voice banking years
argument and buzzwords of “cloud” and “collaboration” as if Microsoft
ago and is now making strides in Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and
does neither and Google has the market cornered on both. Bankers
machine learning. As an early adopter of Amazon Echo (Alexa, I love
should consider the pros and cons of such a risky and unorthodox
you!), I’ve enjoyed the convenience of home automation as well as
move. I would not want to lose the new hot-shot commercial lender I
quick access to information.
just hired because my CIO is forcing her to use Google Sheets over
In the meantime, before the robots change the world as we know it, Excel.
Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini (formerly Bard) to name two AI
A good due diligence question for any provider is, “How do you make
apps, will bring AI capabilities to the masses and become part of normal
your money?”
work routines.
A RKANSAS | 5 | Spring 2024
COMMUNITY BANKER