ChatGPT Has Everyone Talking. Here’s What Some Are Saying.

ChatGPT is on the minds of business leaders everywhere. OpenAI’s launch of the language model-based chatbot on Nov. 30, 2022, was greeted with the most rapid adoption of a consumer application in technology history — more than 100 million users signed on in the first few months alone.

Credit unions have used artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning for several years, including in the form of chatbots that respond to member queries across different channels. But ChatGPT and its emerging competitors are taking the ability to respond to questions and compose written content to a whole new level.

These new tools are classified as generative AI, and they are different from their predecessors. Rather than simply perform tasks related to solving problems or making decisions, these new tools can learn the patterns and structure of input training data to quickly produce text, images, and other media that have similar characteristics. The resulting content looks human-created, and that’s the idea.

Now, leading-edge credit unions are figuring out what it’s all about and what they need to do with this latest revolution in data creation. Here’s what five of them have to say.

Human-AI Collaborations

Brian Elmer and Michael Millhouse joined Capital Credit Union ($2.3B, Green Bay, WI) nine months and 15 months ago as program manager for investments and insurance and chief information officer, respectively.

They say Capital is now rolling out a sophisticated chatbot to streamline help desk support tickets and improve access to information on products, processes, and procedures. According to the duo, the credit union’s investment team is also embracing the power of AI to enhance the user experience of their broker/dealer investment platform.

How is your credit union exploring the potential of ChatGPT and generative AI?

Michael Millhouse: We’ve had conversations with our management team on what ChatGPT is, how it could be used, and how to use it properly. That includes help in writing job descriptions or summaries, annual reviews, communication, or notification letters that can then be edited to fit our needs.

Our internal users have been educated on what data they should or should not enter, just like with any other sensitive or confidential information. While using ChatGPT, you’re essentially talking to a person who is public and not tied to this organization and stores everything you tell them word for word. That means our users must keep their inputs generic and anonymous.

At this time, only IT and marketing staff can access ChatGPT at work. We’ve blocked all other users so we can further educate them on it before opening it up at work.

IT is exploring options to have our instance of ChatGPT know and store all of our policies, procedures, and FAQs so staff can use it internally to get assistance when doing something they often have to do; for example, how do I set up a trust? It could walk them through it and answer additional questions along the way. Marketing uses it to help with content creation and edits and flow.

What potential impact does this technology have on how different departments do their jobs?

Brian Elmer: AI has immense potential to transform multiple departments within our institution. In particular, I see risk management, member service, and marketing to be the most impacted. There might also be application in HR from a talent acquisition standpoint.

I mentioned risk management because of AI’s ability to analyze vast datasets in real time;
member service because AI chatbots will be able to offer personalized support, enabling faster resolutions and improved member satisfaction 24/7/365; and marketing because AI’s predictive capabilities will allow us to tailor our strategies with precision, optimizing member targeting and engagement based on patterns and market trends.

MM: Brian already mentioned risk, member service, and marketing, so I’ll expand on staff support, HR, and legal/compliance. I can see AI, like ChatGPT, being an internal chatbot that can answer any question and walk through processes and procedures when employees are learning their role or performing tasks not completed often. My example above is they would have an internal ChatGPT to ask, “How do I set up a trust?” and it could walk them through it step by step as a kind of personal trainer working alongside them as they serve members.

In HR, I could see it reading and assessing resumes and applications and rating them to requirements and expectations. It could also help write job descriptions and annual performance reviews to save time, or it could be a personal emotional assistant that employees could check in with and it could ask questions on how they are doing and what they might need to personally or professionally.

Lastly, I mentioned legal/compliance, which is really popular in conversations right now. AI could be used to help read contracts and look for requirements or issues. Additionally, the AI could be used to explain legal lingo and walk people through paperwork and filing.

How are these chatbots making you think differently about delivering products and services and serving members and your communities?

BE: From an investment standpoint, even though these technological advancements are being embraced on a widespread scale, I’m a believer that the importance of the human element in investing and advisory relationships will be unwavering.

Complex financial decisions are nuanced conversations that demand a level of expertise, empathy, and understanding only a human can provide. Furthermore, AI struggles to predict markets consistently due to the inherent unpredictability of human behavior and the inherent limitations of historical data as it relates to future unforeseen events that can drastically impact stock prices.

As the idea and usage of AI and ChatGPT grow and more people become comfortable with it, it will grow from a “wow” factor to expected table stakes, so we need to be researching and exploring use cases on how we can support and benefit from AI to help us meet expectations and serve our communities well into the future — a human-AI collaboration, so to speak.

What does AI mean for the future of financial services?

MM: The integration of AI presents a tremendous opportunity for financial institutions to optimize back-end operations, streamline regulatory compliance, and reduce fraud. However, the ethical implications of AI-driven decision-making warrant careful consideration to ensure decisions are transparent, fair, and aligned with human values.

The true transformation in our industry lies in finding the optimal synergy between AI’s capabilities and the human touch, to navigate the complexities of an ever-evolving landscape. We’ll need to see how it evolves from an ethical and bias point of view over time.

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Personalized Messages And Member Service

Steve O’Donnell has been with One Nevada Credit Union ($1.4B, Las Vegas NV) for more than 26 years and its executive vice president and chief financial officer for the past 12.

The Silver State credit union uses chatbot tools for its contact center and website to provide 24/7 access to members for member service inquiries and specific workflows.

O’Donnell says the credit union is now in the early phases of working with other generative AI tools to determine how it can leverage “that exciting technology.”

How is your credit union exploring the potential of ChatGPT and generative AI?

Steve O’Donnell: The conversations at our credit union on the potential of ChatGPT are starting to heat up. We’re in the infancy stages, and the conversations center on policies, governance, use cases, and how we can maximize the opportunities while mitigating the risks. Dare I say we used ChatGPT to give us an example of a policy? It was pretty good!

The conversations are taking place at the management team level now, although we’d be fools not to think many staff are already dabbling in this space. As such, we’re looking at the best ways to tackle governance without stifling innovation. Much of it, I imagine, would be about educating our staff at some level and setting up controls.

Recently, we’ve partnered with a small consortium of credit unions to explore all these ideas on a deeper level. We have a small team testing a generative AI data analysis platform with the initial goal of improving the delivery and breadth of our institutional knowledge, maintaining a single source of truth like we would with our data assets.

What potential impact does this technology have on how different departments do their jobs?

SO: The potential impacts I see with different departments using these tools include better staff engagement, a new lift in productivity, and the ability to break down departmental silos. The time savings that can be realized will allow us to do more of what matters, serving our membership and not drowning in mundane work. Early feedback from some of the use cases we’ve discussed internally has excited the staff.

How are these chatbots making you think differently about delivering products and services and serving members and your communities?

SO: I don’t think we can even know the answer to that yet. The use cases that we are dreaming up grow by the day. The one thing we do know is it will be different, and we can make that difference better for our members.

One opportunity that jumps out to me is the ability to personalize messages and services to each member if we leverage this technology with the data we possess. Personalization has been the Holy Grail for some time. That capability is not very far away now, and that’s just one example. We must keep an open mind and be willing to explore different opportunities to deliver products and services in a new way. If we don’t, someone else will.

What does AI mean for the future of financial services?

SO: I asked ChatGPT this question, but I won’t supply that answer. The potential for AI for financial services is tremendous. The ability to finally leverage the large amounts of data we have through a powerful engine like this can help with personalization strategies, marketing efforts, and perhaps even much-needed help from the fraud prevention side of the business. We have to be sure we are balancing the opportunities with the risks.

These interviews have been edited and condensed.

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