AI Report Digital - Flipbook - Page 4
THE START OF SOMETHING BIG
By: Kiah Lau Haslett
David Becker is experiencing deja vu.
He remembers what it was like in the late 1990s, when personal computers were buzzing, humming and literally dialing into the internet. The
technology had migrated out of labs and universities into companies
and, eventually, people’s homes. At the same time, computers became
smaller, more affordable and personal, increasing the technology’s
potential audience.
Back then, Becker, who has a technology background, had just set up a little bank
called First Internet Bank. It was one of a handful of early U.S. institutions that
“AI, to me, is very
similar to what
the internet was
25 years ago. It’s a
promising tool. It
has tremendous
capabilities and I
think potentially
some tremendous
use cases. But right
now, it’s still kind
of the Wild West
frontier.”
divorced the act of banking from a physical location. He saw the cycle of hype and
skepticism surrounding the internet, as people logged on and took their first tentative
steps into this brave new world, and he planted his flag firmly on the side of the internet.
Today’s interest in artificial intelligence reminds him of that heady time in the late
1990s. The internet had been around for decades, and some companies had been using
it for years. But its commercialization and application was about to explode.
“AI, to me, is very similar to what the internet was 25 years ago,” says the chairman
and CEO of the now $5.2 billion First Internet Bancorp, in Fischers, Indiana. “It’s a
promising tool. It has tremendous capabilities and I think potentially some tremendous
use cases. But right now, it’s still kind of the Wild West frontier.”
But AI is rapidly migrating out of the Wild West and into tamer corporate offices, software companies and yes, financial institutions. Like the internet, the personal computer
and the smartphone, AI has also become more commercial and affordable over the
David Becker,
First Internet Bancorp
years. Technology companies are adding AI capabilities to their existing software offerings or creating new licensed offerings that enterprises can purchase. That means AI is
moving down-market, from the largest banks that have in-house developer resources to
regional and small banks and credit unions that can add the capabilities via vendors.
2 | FINXTECH INTELLIGENCE REPORT
