Will ChatGPT and the AI revolution replace member-staff interactions?

ChatGPT is causing waves in just about every industry, and there’s no doubt it will be a powerful tool in assisting roles that involve written and verbal communication.

But will it replace a universal associate?

Compare it to digital/mobile banking, and the benefits and drawbacks of the technology.

While ChatGPT presents the possibility of efficiency and scaling, and there are security concerns and it’s never going to completely replace your staff members and human interaction and unique problem-solving skills they bring to the table.

Unlock unprecedented scaling

Digital banking and ChatGPT are solutions for scaling. A staff member can help one member at a time, and they are tied up as long as that activity takes.

On a Friday afternoon, branches can get slammed with long lines when people come in with their paychecks.

But how many mobile check deposits can your system accept in the time that it takes a human associate to deposit one check? Hundreds? Thousands? How many per FTE working on that system?

This unprecedented scaling can also be applied to ChatGPT. A member wants to know the process for applying for a mortgage? ChatGPT, trained on the right data, will be absolutely able to answer many if not most of their questions. And this can scale to virtually unlimited members asking questions simultaneously.

Security

Security is an issue with both digital banking and ChatGPT.

This is a major concern for digital banking, but the risk is mitigated by encryption and cybersecurity practices that make compromising banking systems and user data extremely difficult.

ChatGPT, however, is a black box. This is the nature of neural networks. A brilliant computer scientist named Anrej Karpathy attempted to understand how neural networks “think” about text in his article The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Recurrent Neural Networks. But the neural network inside a natural language model like ChatGPT is absolutely enormous and represents a many-dimensional space with abstract relationships between elements.

Connecting such a model to member data carries an extraordinary level of risk because exploits will exist in this abstract space that can’t be uncovered through audits like source code for a program can.

Member Trust and Satisfaction

Members prefer digital banking for simple transactions, but survey after survey shows that members prefer to interact with a human when dealing with complex issues, opening a new account, or solving a problem.

Human interactions bring a level of trust to the table that computers just can’t match, and they also have the creativity and problem-solving skills to help with unique issues, answer unexpected questions, and show true empathy towards members.

And while the big banks push more and more services to digital platforms and lead with AI, this is a real opportunity to differentiate yourself. The race to eliminate the human element of banking is also a race to commodification of banking services – competing purely on the numbers.

As member-owned institutions that give back to communities, credit unions can’t always compete on numbers. Leaning into the human element, empowering your staff to be creative and innovative problem solvers, will give your credit union and your brand a huge advantage in this future of banking.

Closing Thoughts

My personal prediction? The biggest disruption that ChatGPT will cause in the credit union industry won’t be to staffing – it will be to fraud. Right now, automated emails, robocalls, and social media bots are sophisticated but it’s still easy for an educated member to spot attempts at fraud. When these efforts are replaced by a convincing conversational AI, the fraud landscape may turn into the wild west.

But as far as member service goes, the human touch is going to be an even bigger differentiating factor the more technology advances. Artificial intelligence will assist staff, streamline workloads, and enable more efficiency, but it can’t replace the personality, ingenuity, and creativity of humans. And in an era where the financial industry is facing increasing commodification, your people are one of your best opportunities to differentiate your credit union from big bank competition.

Take Action

Ready to build a branch network that seamlessly integrates with your technology, empowers your staff to reach their fullest potential, and activates your brand in an authentic way? Reach out to our team of experts today!