AI Could Steal Bank Tellers’ Jobs — Here’s How They Can Fight Back

You’ve no doubt seen the headlines about artificial intelligence replacing workers and stealing their jobs. There’s been talk about jobs in customer service, banking and groceries being cut due to advances in AI and other technologies — you’ve probably experienced the increased number of self-checkout options at your local store.

Disagreement Over the Future

There have been dire predictions about how AI will impact your banking and the jobs of bank tellers. “The banking industry is no exception: digitalization has already closed thousands of branches, and millions of banking jobs will be eliminated due to AI,” according to UXDA.

However, not everyone is ready to say AI is coming for all of those banking jobs. In fact, according to The Financial Brand, “Right now, the customers of community banks and credit unions tend to be older — 57% of community bank customers are over the age of 55 — and still overwhelmingly prefer to interact with a human rather than a robot.”

Learning New Skills

Whichever predictions you believe, it’s almost certain that AI will take away some bank jobs. That includes replacing some tellers. So how can they fight back?

The first answer may be to learn new skills. That may mean learning to do other things at the bank or looking at how they can master AI concepts to take on new jobs created by the technology. Ally Bank and others have created programs to help upskill their current workers and improve their fluency with AI.

Making AI Your Friend

Here’s another way tellers and others can fight back against AI – use it to their advantage in their current roles. Technology is being incorporated into current workflows to maximize resources and cut down on repetitive tasks that AI can help automate.

So what’s a teller to do? Learn to use the AI options available to make their jobs easier — freeing them to learn more complex tasks in anticipation of a more senior role or for a move to another company.

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