Agent IQ Insights 2026 Digital - Flipbook - Page 3
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Can I Get An Assist?
Workers between the ages of 18 to 49 were likelier than those over 50 to say they have
used AI chatbots at work. This is how they tend to use that technology.
CONTENT
customer-facing chatbot provides bad
information, that opens the bank up to
myriad risks that an internal bot would
Do research or find information about a specific topic
not, says Slaven Bilac, CEO and co-found-
57%
er with Agent IQ.
“If you have an internal-facing AI that
Edit written content
says something egregious, your employ-
52%
ees have the ability to double check,” he
says. Customer-facing chatbots lack that
Draft reports, documents or other written content
safeguard. There is no bank employee
47%
there to verify the accuracy of the information being shared. Providing “incorrect
Summarize information from documents or meetings
information can lead to trouble, liability
for lawsuits, refunds, penalties and other
40%
undesirable consequences,” Bilac adds.
Come up with new ideas
A fundamental key to making a chatbot
35%
work successfully is ensuring that it’s
fed the proper data. In the case of Bank
Source: Pew Research Center, survey conducted in October 2024
First and its initial, unauthenticated
chatbot, this meant telling the AI where it
could source answers to questions casual
visitors might have. An internal chatbot
nect to the institution’s broader strategy,”
Bank First has since moved on to test-
would need to be fed information from
says Michael Lee, chief sales officer with
ing an internal chatbot. Eventually, the
the bank’s manuals and standard operat-
Agent IQ. “Chatbots are often deployed for
goal is to have a bot that employees can
ing procedures. Bank leaders also need
efficiency, but their greatest value comes
use to quickly access information about
to be aware of the risk that a chatbot will
when those efficiency gains free staff to
the bank’s procedures without having to
hallucinate, or provide a confident but
deepen relationships, uncover needs and
sift through a dense manual for the an-
incorrect answer.
ultimately drive growth.”
swer. For instance, a banker might call up
Early Successes
The $4.5 billion Bank First began using
Whether the bot is deployed for inter-
the bot to provide the code for a principal-
nal or external purposes, it’s important
only payment on a loan.
that banks remember it’s not something
“The beauty of this is that by using the
they can set and forget. Bilac likens it to
customer-facing chatbots in mid-2025,
[standard operating procedure] as the
a junior employee. “To some extent, they
Marston says. The bank started with
resource, we can control the information
need to be mentored and supervised,” he
unauthenticated chatbots, meaning that
that the chatbot is using to answer that
says. “The level of supervision will depend
they would serve any person accessing
question and make sure that it’s giving an
on how much surface area it covers, the
the bank’s website. It didn’t call atten-
accurate answer,” Marston says. “What
types of questions it is trying to answer
tion to the function initially, opting to see
you find on a general chatbot online
and the available resources, but some
who would use it and what they would
is that a lot of times it gets the answer
amount of monitoring and supervision is
ask of it. Staff then used this information
wrong because it’s going out to the inter-
recommended.”
to refine the chatbot’s logic and improve
net and getting all that information.”
responses.
The institution has progressed to using
Because most small and midsize banks
will be working with a vendor to imple-
Risk Versus Reward
ment some type of AI chatbot, it’s impor-
That gets to one of the primary risks
tant to understand how frequently that
swer more personal customer questions for
associated with deploying AI technolo-
vendor updates the software, Bilac says.
people who have logged in and authenti-
gies into customer-facing functions such
“The speed of being able to do that is an
cated their identity. “We handled hundreds
as chatbots. AI technologies can create
important factor,” he adds. “If you can fix
and hundreds of chats in those first few
tremendous efficiencies, but a human
something within five minutes of finding
days,” he says. “Quite frankly, it probably
still needs to be looped into the process
an issue, it’s obviously much better than
saved us a thousand calls that week.”
to double-check the final output. If a
having to wait five weeks.”
authenticated chatbots, or those that an-
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