Let’s Stop Wasting AI on the Wrong Problems

By Mike Schilling, President & CEO of Community Savings Credit Union

There’s a lot of hype around artificial intelligence in financial services. But the way we’re deploying it in credit unions and smaller financial institutions right now? Frankly, we’re missing the mark.

We're chasing the shiny object: rolling out AI chatbots that frustrate members instead of helping them, automating front-line conversations that should remain human, and creating digital barriers when we should be removing them.

At Community Savings, we believe in AI technology – when used the right way. This means using AI not to replace the human experience, but to enable it.

Let’s stop pretending our competitive advantage lies in 24/7 digital interactions. We’re not going to out-chatbot the banks, but we can out-human them by doubling down on what makes credit unions different: trust built through face-to-face engagement and knowledge of our local communities.

So what if we flipped the script? What if we used AI not to dodge our members, but to better serve them?

Here's what that looks like in practice. While others chase customer-facing AI gimmicks, we should be deploying it where it actually creates value: in the complex, time-consuming back- office work that holds small and medium-sized credit unions back from saying yes to good deals.

Tools like Approval Pathway are quietly revolutionizing financial analysis and underwriting by transforming messy financial packages into lender-ready files, surfacing critical insights buried in financial statement notes, and automating complex credit assessments. Not flashy but profoundly powerful.

This is the AI we need more of: the intelligent systems that help our staff spend less time wrestling with spreadsheets and more time building relationships with members; that turn our credit analysts into strategic advisors; and give smaller institutions access to the kind of sophisticated underwriting capabilities that used to be reserved for the big banks.

We're competing for scarce talent, wrestling with legacy systems, and trying to do more with less. The pressure is mounting. If we're going to survive, and thrive, we need to be strategic about where we invest our technology dollars.

Let’s invest in made-in-Canada AI tools and use them as levers for deeper, more human service. It’s not just good business – it’s staying true to the cooperative principles that built our movement.