I Want to Be Careful and Purpose-driven With GenAI — First Financial Bank CIO

(US & Canada) Donnie Slavens, Chief Information Officer at First Financial Bank, speaks with Channie Mize, General Manager, Slalom Consulting, in a video interview about his philosophy and approach to generative AI, the maturation cycle for GenAI, its impact on regulation, and how it will impact the workforce.

Slavens says that his philosophy about GenAI is to better understand how the bank or industry can utilize the technology to enhance operations, improve customer experiences, and ensure the technology and use cases are aligned with core business goals. As far as an approach, he says that it is being careful and purpose-driven. He elaborates that it is about finding a balance between innovation and responsible implementation with risk management and ethical considerations.

While it is speeding up decision-making processes, Slavens maintains that it shouldn't be solely making decisions.

When asked about the maturation cycle for GenAI, Slavens says that as all new technologies go through a hype cycle, GenAI is currently at its peak. He maintains that the hype will settle out over the next two to three years where it can scale but it will come with a big drop in overinflated expectations.

Elaborating on what will drive strategy for the bank Slavens says that it could be improving customer experience or even enhancing fraud capabilities. He however maintains that the journey to full-scale adoption over the next several years is going to be about overcoming challenges around AI governance, risk management, and regulatory compliance.

Further, Slavens states that the GenAI value creation has to pivot more to customer-centric solutions, putting the customer first, solving customer problems, and serving them better.

Next, he speaks about the impact of the production use of generative AI on regulation. Slavens expects GenAI adoption to have a dual impact on regulation. On the positive side, it will drive new regulations and make way for using the technology. On the downside, as it becomes more adopted, it will receive a lot more scrutiny around data privacy issues.

In the long term, Slavens says that companies will use genAI embedded solutions, with deeper and broader integrations. Hence, they need to understand how it works and work together with vendors as partners to enhance the business.

Speaking about the impact of GenAI on employees or workers, Slavens says that technology is going to continue to improve, but it's not necessarily going to replace jobs. Instead, it will help people engage in more valuable and customer-centric opportunities. 

While GenAI is a cornerstone of new digital transformation that will drive innovation, it has to be safe, trustworthy, and reliable, Slavens concludes.

CDO Magazine appreciates Donnie Slavens for sharing his insights with our global data community.