Virtual assistants

Wells Fargo on the receiving end of USAA's long-standing intellectual property threat; millions are mad about Erica, Bank of America's virtual assistant; relief may be in reach for bankers fed up with SARs; and more from this week's most-read stories.

Bank of America says its artificial-intelligence assistant isn't likely to listen in on private conversations the way Amazon.com's Alexa did last month.

The rapid adoption of voice assistants only adds to the notion they could one day be disruptors in commerce, payments and financial services.

The main problem is that Amazon's Alexa, Apple’s Siri and Google Assistant can’t yet verify a person’s identity. But there are already workarounds for that issue — and the tech giants may solve it soon.

Discount Bank in Tel Aviv has made several discoveries, including that customers ask more in-depth questions of its bank chatbot than expected.

Consumers are embracing voice assistants. What does this mean for banks’ business models?

How new developments on many fronts are going to affect the banking business in the coming year and beyond — and what bankers can do to prepare.

Virtual assistants at banks in Israel, Canada and Hong Kong are getting smarter thanks to artificial intelligence.

While technology will let many banks cut staff and reduce the size of branches, factors such as geography, customer demographics and strategic direction will ultimately shape the look and feel of future offices.

Execs from Bank of America, Wells Fargo, BBVA, Ally Bank and others outlined their AI strategies, progress to date and lessons learned at BankAI this week.