Adapt or Die: Why Credit Unions Must Embrace AI Infrastructure Now

Guest Editorial by Becky Reed, Chief Operating Officer, BankSocial

Let’s stop pretending we have time. Credit unions have been warned—by fintechs, by consumer behavior shifts, by emerging regulations, and frankly, by our own internal inefficiencies. But here we are, in 2025, still debating whether artificial intelligence is a strategic initiative or a distraction.

Becky Reed

Spoiler alert: It’s neither. AI is now a foundational infrastructure layer. If you're not investing in it—intentionally, aggressively, and holistically—you're not building for the future. You're managing decline.

The Misconception: AI as a Feature, Not a Core Function

Too many credit unions are approaching AI like it's a plug-in: a chatbot here, a fraud detection tool there. But AI isn’t just about automating a few manual tasks. It’s about re-architecting how our organizations think, respond, and scale.

Ask yourself this: What if your credit union could analyze every interaction, every data point, every compliance change in real time—without adding headcount or increasing overhead? That’s not science fiction. That’s table stakes in fintech today. It’s what members expect. It’s what competitors already deliver.

AI isn’t just smarter. It’s faster. And in a world where attention spans are short and alternatives are one app download away, speed wins.

Internal Bottlenecks Are the Real Threat

Here’s the hard truth: Legacy culture, not legacy tech, is the main barrier. Most of our friction isn’t in systems—it’s in decision-making, prioritization, and risk aversion. We’ve all sat through those meetings: committees debating innovation frameworks while Gen Z members are opening accounts with apps that offer biometric onboarding, predictive budgeting, and AI-driven financial coaching—in under 90 seconds.

If your member onboarding still takes days, if your data lives in 10 different silos, if your fraud response still relies on batch reports and manual reviews—you’re burning time and trust. AI isn’t just about doing more. It’s about thinking differently. Credit unions must stop treating innovation as a department and start embedding it into every team, process, and product.

AI + Credit Unions = Cooperative Superpowers

The beauty of AI for credit unions isn’t in mimicking the big banks. It’s in amplifying what makes us unique: personalization, mission alignment, and member trust.

Imagine an AI infrastructure that flags at-risk members before they miss payments, that coaches teens through their first savings goals, that spots fraud based on a member's typical behavior—not some generic rule engine. Even more powerful? Federated learning models that allow credit unions to pool anonymized insights without ever sharing member data. Collaboration is literally in our DNA—why not build AI that reflects that?

But What About Compliance?

Yes, regulators are watching. But they’re not the enemy—they’re evolving too. The NCUA, the CFPB, even the Fed—they all know AI is here, and they’re building frameworks around responsible use, not outright bans. Waiting for “perfect clarity” is just an excuse.

Credit unions already operate under strict compliance controls. With the right partners, AI can be explainable, auditable, and defensible. In fact, AI can enhance compliance. Think automated BSA reviews, real-time AML pattern detection, or AI-driven vendor due diligence scoring. This isn’t about replacing your compliance officer—it’s about giving them superpowers.

Where to Start: Infrastructure, Not Ideas

Start with infrastructure. You don’t need to build your own models from scratch. But you do need a digital foundation that supports real-time data flows, secure APIs, scalable compute power, and interoperability.

Think modular. Think cloud-native. Think composable. Whether you're using AI for lending, fraud, member service, or marketing—your tech stack needs to be able to pivot, grow, and integrate fast. And if your current core or digital provider can’t support that? Don’t wait for them. Build around them. Partner with fintechs that understand the speed credit unions need and the regulatory guardrails you operate in.

The Future Is Permissionless—and Personalized

Here’s the bottom line: Members aren’t waiting. They’re not reading your strategic plan. They’re not patient with your vendor RFP cycle. They want solutions that work—right now, in real time, in context.

AI enables that. But only if we move.

If we wait for perfection, for consensus, for certainty—we lose. We become the next Blockbuster, the next Borders. Irrelevant, not because we didn’t care, but because we didn’t adapt fast enough. Credit unions have survived for a century by evolving. The next evolution isn’t just digital. It’s intelligent. It’s automated. And it’s already underway.

We don’t need another committee to study this. We need bold leadership, fast execution, and a refusal to let legacy mindsets define our future.

It’s time to act. 

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Becky Reed is a credit union industry veteran and thought leader with more than two decades of leadership in credit unions and CUSOs.  Renowned for her unique perspective as both a credit union executive and CUSO leader, her expertise and advice are in demand by those who seek to embrace innovation.  As the CEO of Lone Star Credit Union, Becky led the organization through a complete digital transformation starting with a technology foundational remediation which allowed the credit union to achieve economies of scale through increased efficiency.

Becky continues to stay at the forefront of innovation by working with emerging technologies, such as DLT and AI through her role as the Chief Operating Officer for the fintech BankSocial.  Her focus revolves around the 4 'Cs' - Credit Unions, CUSOs, Crypto and Collaboration.  You can find her on the road speaking at conferences and in board rooms about disruption to traditional systems and how Fis can adapt, grow and even thrive. 

In addition to her credit union and fintech expertise, Becky is the published author of the book “Credit Unions and DeFI: A Financial Renaissance” and co-host for the podcast “Grow Your Credit Union”. Becky graduated Summa Cum Laude from Concordia University in Austin, Tex.