Ben Udell
By Ben Udell, Ben Udell Consulting, a WBA Associate Member
Bankers are doing their best to keep up with the breakneck speed of AI transformation. What’s getting left behind is AI’s impact on culture. Keeping pace with AI is hard enough. Making time for the culture issues it creates is harder.
Consider these areas of friction banks are uncovering as they roll out AI.
- How do you manage a team when one person uses AI every day and their peer doesn’t? And how do you handle the frustration when one person’s AI-assisted work is noticeably better than the rest of the team’s?
- Who gets access to the best AI tools? And how do you address the divide when you create haves and have nots?
- When you say “responsible AI usage,” what do you really mean? And are you prepared to hold someone accountable when they produce workslop with AI?
These are real issues happening in banks across Wisconsin right now. Most banks have an AI policy. Few are talking about how AI is affecting their people and culture. This is a change management challenge more than a technology one.
Do You Care If AI Wrote It?
Start with a common situation. Your employee writes a new internal policy, and it’s perfect. It’s concise, factually correct, and compliant, but it clearly looks like it was written by AI.
Do you care? Should it be edited so it looks like a human wrote it? Plus, it “looks” AI written, but what if it’s not?
I ask this question in large groups, and the room always splits. Half says approve it and move on. The other half says take the time to edit. Without guidance, people quietly make their own call. There’s no right answer, but no guidance leads to unnecessary work, friction between employees, and limited adoption. This is one of the first discussions you need to have.
Most of the time, you can’t tell when AI is used. Employees who are good with AI move work in and out of AI, using it as a coworker. Most work isn’t 100% AI or 100% human. Some bankers use AI to improve clarity. Others have AI write full documents, then fact check the work and make minor edits. Leaders need to model the behavior they expect and hold employees accountable for quality work, regardless of how AI contributed.
Where to Start
Banks don’t need a new policy, but employees do need clear expectations on what is and isn’t acceptable. Model those expectations yourself and be realistic. AI is already built into nearly every tool on your desk. Reinforce that quality work and accountability matter, regardless of how much AI was used. Encourage employees to share what’s working, along with where they’re stuck, frustrated, or confused. Your employees are building AI habits and your leadership decides whether those habits become part of a culture you’re proud of.
Ben Udell will be presenting the keynote: “The Executive Edge in AI: A Field Report for Bank Leaders” at the 2027 WBA Bank Executives Conference on Friday, February 5, 2027, at the Kalahari in Wisconsin Dells.
