Various types of artificial intelligence (AI) have entered everyday life and have moved past the hype cycle for use in financial services. I believe that AI has more commercially ready use cases in retail lending (credit card, automobile, mortgage and personal loans) than other leading-edge technologies such as blockchain. Some retail lenders have progressed beyond “is AI real?” to implementing some live AI applications. The foundational questions for most institutions are:

• what are the categories of AI

• what are the practical use cases in my business, and

• how will it improve my business?

Let’s look at what the general AI capabilities are, the use cases across the retail lending lifecycle, and where the best place to start is.