AI use needs to be on your 2026 strategic plan. That’s it. Full stop.
We’ve spoken with countless credit unions about AI. We’ve also worked closely with several to uplevel their AI abilities.
That’s why we feel so confident saying:
Credit unions are way, way behind. In 2026, You need to do more.
Where Credit Unions Are Falling Short
When we speak with credit unions about AI use, we’re… not impressed. There’s a lot of room for improvement.
For example, we hear about people using AI to:
- Write custom GPTs to reliably tackle specific tasks
- Summarize board meeting notes
- Write emails and memos
- Create graphics for social media
We could go on, but you get the idea. This is basic generative AI use. The extent to which most credit unions use AI is limited to opening the LLM or tool of choice, entering a prompt, and accepting or tweaking the outcome.
Ultimately, it may shave time off of a single task. But it’s not doing much beyond that. And if that’s the extent of your use of AI, you’re not learning quickly enough to keep up.
What People Are Doing with AI Now
In the past couple of months, we’ve spoken with people who are pushing the boundaries of what AI can do. Even when LLMs are used, the user never even touches them.
People are using AI to:
- Prototype products (or product features) with code
- Conduct deep research and analysis, and develop a full report and presentation
- Create bespoke, brand-aligned landing pages
- Manage their entire email inbox
Okay. Wait. That’s not even that impressive.
That’s all a step beyond basic generative AI use, but it’s still a simple query with context. It’s almost there, but not quite.
Here’s what’s really impressive. People are connecting multiple AI agents into repeatable, automated workflows that:
- Fully automate social posting and engagement, with algorithms that optimize over time according to what performs best;
- Scan spreadsheets or databases for new information, analyzes it, writes a report, and delivers it to your inbox;
- Turn natural language prompts into fully classified and managed CRM inputs with the click of a button.
Orchestrating AI agents and automating workflows is the next big step. We know people doing this already. (Some of them keep appearing in the mirror.)
Credit unions need to expand what they think is possible with AI.
A Disclaimer About AI in Credit Unions
Naturally, a highly regulated industry with mountains of sensitive data must approach AI differently.
You can’t just go rogue. You can’t “move fast and break things,” like the Silicon Valley folks used to say.
When you break things, people’s livelihoods are at stake.
It’s up to you to exercise due caution when exploring AI use.
However, don’t let reasonable safety and caution stop you from exploring. There’s a difference between moving forward carefully and standing still.
Just don’t stand still!
What Can You Do to Close the Gap?
There are so many ways to get started with AI that it would be impossible to enumerate them here. But everyone has to start somewhere.
Here’s what we recommend:
- Get comfortable with a few tools. Whether ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, just get fluent with what you can and can’t do. Try image generation with any of the above, or seek out models by Stable Diffusion (such as Flux), Ideogram, or Alibaba (Qwen). Explore what Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) tools like NotebookLM can do.
- Learn about how that data gets used and stored. You’ll want to know this if you use any of these tools professionally. You’d be surprised by how many tools don’t store any data at all, let alone sensitive data.
If you’ve already started with the first two, here’s what we suggest next:
- Discover new AI fintechs in the credit union space. Our Fintech Call Program is a low-lift, low-stakes way to learn about new solutions that won’t give you regulatory headaches. (Form below.)
- Learn with us. We’ve worked with credit unions to accelerate AI adoption. We’ve taught people how to create custom GPTs. Led vibe-coding sessions. Prototyped landing pages and new services. Just shoot us an email at info@cu-2.com
