Most Credit Unions Want AI—But Nearly 9 In 10 Fear What Comes Next
By CU Today Staff —
SANDWICH, Mass.—Community financial institutions overwhelmingly view artificial intelligence as a strategic priority, but most have adopted only a limited number of AI applications while remaining deeply concerned about accuracy, security and overreliance on the technology, according to Gemineye's new 2026 AI Sentiment Report.
The analytics provider surveyed 30 executives and employees at credit unions and community banks ranging from $250 million to $8 billion in assets and found organizations rated AI adoption an average of 8 out of 10 in importance. Yet two-thirds of respondents said their institutions had integrated two or fewer AI processes, highlighting what Gemineye called a gap between executive expectations and operational readiness.
"We see a lot of inertia issues when it comes to AI adoption. Credit Union leaders are stuck trying to select AI pilots that have sufficient upside while mitigating very real risks," said Maggie Chopp, Gemineye's director of business development and a former credit union data analyst.
The survey found AI concerns far outweighed optimism. Eighty-seven percent of respondents identified risks rather than opportunities when asked about AI, with accuracy and security emerging as the dominant themes.
"Too much reliance on AI without verification of the data or an understanding of the business," said a data analyst at a $2-billion credit union. A credit union president added, "Degradation of work product by some - too reliant in AI vs critical thinking." A business applications manager at a $1.6-billion bank cited "Security, Privacy and Customers' Information."
Not all respondents were skeptical. Israel Spence, business intelligence strategy manager at the $800-million Service 1st Credit Union, said AI's greatest value lies in improving efficiency through "Automating repeatable, static structured tasks. Summarizing or condensing information for briefings/front pages. Natural language querying for business units."
Gemineye concluded financial institutions should focus initial AI deployments on lower-risk, internal-facing applications that support—not replace—human decision-making and produce transparent, repeatable results. The firm said organizations that balance innovation with strong governance, security and accuracy will be best positioned to realize AI's benefits as adoption accelerates.
Originally reported by CU Today.