Credit unions are at a pivotal moment, with digitization as a top priority for meeting evolving member expectations. AI is key to this transformation, driving new opportunities but also creating some of the industry’s most pressing challenges.

This duality was at the forefront of conversations during the ELEVATE: Credit Union Leadership Summit 2025, where our team joined other industry leaders to explore how AI is changing the industry.

A new wave of AI-powered threats

As AI becomes more widely implemented, it’s also being exploited by fraudsters. The Summit sessions highlighted a new wave of sophisticated scams threatening the financial sector, including:

  • Deepfake fraud: Criminals use synthetic voices and images to impersonate trusted figures, bypass authentication and spread disinformation that can shake markets and impact members’ finances.
  • Automated phishing: GenAI enables personalized, large-scale phishing attacks that closely mimic legitimate communications. These campaigns make members and employees more vulnerable to revealing personal and financial data.
  • Synthetic identity fraud: Fraudsters combine real and fabricated personal details to create false identities and open accounts or secure loans. Often undetected for months, this fraud accumulates significant financial losses.
  • AI-powered malware: Malicious code now learns, adapts and mimics normal user behavior, evading traditional defenses and making detection far more difficult.
  • Data leaks: Employees risk exposing sensitive information by inputting corporate or member data into public AI tools, creating major compliance and privacy vulnerabilities.

“Traditional controls and authentication processes are no longer sufficient against these advanced tactics,” according to Jackie Lineberger, VP, business development, TaskUs.

Defending against these risks was a running theme throughout the presentations. Our experts emphasize the importance of investing in employee and member education, regularly reviewing account documents and implementing multi-layer verification to build a robust security framework.

Using AI as a defense mechanism 

“While AI presents significant challenges, it’s also a powerful tool to combat emerging threats and drive better member experiences,” Jackie says.

AI scales and speeds up risk mitigation by analyzing huge amounts of data and flagging suspicious activity in real time. This allows human analysts to concentrate on conducting in-depth investigations and applying critical thinking that machines can’t.

But on top of fraud prevention, agentic AI can autonomously handle routine tasks and solve simpler member issues via call or chat, from balance checks to new account requests. For more complex issues, the AI agent would know when to hand off to a human, who understands nuance and context better. To members, the experience is seamless and personalized.

GenAI tools can also be implemented into workflows to automate note taking, information retrieval and post-call summary generation. Again, this frees up frontline teammates to connect more deeply with members. Tools can also surface valuable insights from these interactions, helping credit unions improve workflows, programs and enhance overall member experience.

“The organizations that will thrive in this new era are those that effectively balance the power of AI with its inherent risks,” says Jackie.

To explore how to strengthen your defenses against AI-driven threats, accelerate digital transformation and deploy agentic AI responsibly, connect with our team.