Grasshopper Bank is looking to AI for internal and external uses as the technology is expected to streamline manual employee tasks and improve the overall client experience. 

The New York-based digital bank is taking a cautious approach to AI, Grasshopper Chief Executive Mike Butler told Bank Automation News. The bank is asking, “Where can we introduce some artificial intelligence to enhance the opportunity for us to serve our clients better and do it more efficiently?” he said. 

To answer that question, Butler said Grasshopper is starting with the following AI applications:  

• Customer experience: The bank is looking to deploy AI-driven chatbots in 2024 to keep up with its growing client base. This year the bank is expecting to onboard 14,000 clients, up from 9,000 in 2023. 
• Portfolio monitoring: Grasshopper is testing out how to deploy AI within portfolio management to provide an analysis of the strength of a business portfolio after a credit decision is made by humans. 
• Back-office automation: The bank is identifying where AI can take on redundant employee tasks so people can move “into more aligned intellectual capital positions,” Butler said. “Let the AI do the things that are more repetitive and more robotic.” 

Cautious approach to AI

Grasshopper is looking to implement AI in areas where it is confident and is looking to team up with fintechs with the same outlook on AI, Butler said.  

“We are not going to try and turn the world upside down [or] boil the ocean,” he said. “We’re making sure that our strategic partners are thinking about AI the same way.” 

The bank, which looks to third-party providers to build its software, works with the following fintechs because of their aligned strategies:  

• Account origination solution provider Mantl; 
• Account opening solution Narmi for SMB and startup online and mobile banking; and 
• Embedded finance banking network Treasury Prime. 

As Grasshopper prioritizes AI throughout 2024, the technology is expected to supplement the bank’s operations rather than replace them, Butler said.  

“We’re not ready for artificial intelligence to run the bank,” he said.

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