Velera's Lotz: AI Should Scale Relationship Quality, Not Eliminate Human Touch
By CU Today Staff —
TAMPA, Fla.--Credit unions should view agentic artificial intelligence as a tool for strengthening member relationships—not simply cutting costs or replacing employees—according to executives participating in a PYMNTS discussion on the future of AI in financial services.
Jeremiah Lotz, senior vice president of enterprise data and AI at Velera, told PYMNTS that AI is rapidly evolving from a back-office efficiency tool into technology capable of supporting decisions, interactions and workflows in real time. For credit unions, he said, the opportunity is to use AI to enhance service rather than automate away the personal relationships that distinguish the movement.
"The goal shouldn't be to replace the relationship aspect of it," Lotz said during the PYMNTS discussion. "It really should be, 'How do we use it to scale the quality of that relationship?'" He said AI can help frontline employees prepare for member conversations, accelerate fraud investigations, improve dispute resolution and reduce administrative burdens that consume staff time.
The panel challenged the prevailing notion that financial institutions are already behind in an AI arms race. Cal Al-Dhubaib, principal technologist at Rubrik, told PYMNTS that institutions should focus less on speed and more on outcomes, arguing that simply automating existing processes may preserve inefficiencies rather than eliminate them.
Instead, Al-Dhubaib said, agentic AI gives organizations an opportunity to redesign workflows from the ground up, creating better member experiences while reserving critical decision points for human judgment. Success should be measured by improved outcomes, not merely labor savings or faster processing times.
The discussion also highlighted trust as a critical factor in AI adoption. Lotz cautioned that credit unions should not assume the trust they have built with members over decades automatically extends to AI-powered interactions. Transparency around how AI is used, where humans remain involved and who is accountable for decisions will be essential, he told PYMNTS.
Cheryl Middleton Jones, chief people officer at Velera, said employee education is equally important. As AI automates routine tasks, she told PYMNTS that skills such as communication, empathy, judgment and discernment become more valuable, allowing staff to focus on deeper member engagement. The panel concluded that while AI may be relatively easy to deploy, the greater challenge for credit unions will be maintaining trust, governance and human oversight as the technology becomes more deeply embedded in financial services.
Originally reported by CU Today.