AI carries security risks in banking, including being used by scammers to target financial information. Photo via Getty Images

With artificial intelligence technologies easily accessible and growing in popularity, consumers and business owners alike should be aware of both the benefits and risks when it comes to the utilization of generative AI tools in banking and finance. While data-driven AI creates the opportunity to further drive innovation in banking, the data-reliant nature of the industry makes it a natural target for scammers looking to intercept personal and business finances and sensitive customer information.

As banks and other financial service providers are using AI as a tool to scan for anomalies or errors that are known fraud techniques, criminals are using AI to improve their chances of perpetrating fraud. For this reason, consumers and businesses should guard their data with the same diligence used to guard cash and other valuable physical property.

Privacy and accuracy

For entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes, it is important to keep in mind the practical applications of AI beyond the trending headlines, whether implementing the technology into everyday internal business practices, or into client-facing solutions.

When feeding information into AI, it is best to maintain a defensive position and be proactive about not disclosing sensitive or private information. Also, rely on sound judgment when deciding when and how to use AI technologies. From a business standpoint, privacy should be embedded into a financial system’s design and leaders should be transparent about the technologies used within a given system.

Technologies like ChatGPT are large language models operating on massive datasets, including documents and web pages across the internet. This poses a risk because some sources of this data lack accuracy. When seeking financial advice via AI technologies, it is best to conduct research by curating and limiting the dataset then talking through your unique financial position in person with your trusted banker and IT staff or consultants.

Phishing and business email compromise via AI

Historically, phishing and business email compromise, or BEC, attempts have been more easily recognizable and often flushed out due to grammatical errors and unnecessary punctuation. With technologies like ChatGPT, scammers are now better equipped to draft well written content that can fool a person into thinking a communication is legitimate. Phishing can lead to people clicking links or attachments that harbor malware or other viruses that can lead to account takeover. With BEC, a person might be fooled into thinking an email is from a legitimate person. Scams like these could potentially lead to the disclosing of sensitive information or accepting transaction instructions or changes, ultimately resulting in money being sent to a fraudster.

AI voice generators

AI voice generators can be used to mimic voices of anyone including bankers, C-suite leaders and customers. If a person is fooled into believing they have received a voicemail or are talking to a person they know, they may accept instructions from a fraudster like providing transaction approvals and sensitive or private information, resulting in fraud.

AI can also create fake identities, including AI-developed photos of individuals, and other false information. These fake identities could be used to create accounts for fraudulent purposes.

AI is here to stay

AI is forecasted to have a lasting impact on the banking industry. Whether on the business or consumer side of the spectrum, it will be important to embrace the innovation and enhancements generative AI will continue to produce, while maintaining a cautionary stance around protecting client and business information and finances. Fraud prevention practices will need to continue evolving alongside the fast-paced growth of generative AI in banking.

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Ken Smiley is treasury management division manager of Amegy Bank and a fraud protection expert.

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Rice University MBA programs rank among top 5 in prestigious annual report

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Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business MBA programs have been ranked among the top five in the country again in The Princeton Review’s 2025 Best Business Schools rankings.

The university's MBA program in finance earned a No. 3 ranking, climbing up two spots from its 2024 ranking. Finance MBA programs at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business and New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business were the only ones to outrank Rice, claiming No. 2 and No. 1 spots, respectively.

Rice's online MBA program was ranked No. 5, compared to No. 4 last year. Indiana University's Bloomington Kelley School of Business' online program claimed the top spot.

“These rankings reflect the commitment of our faculty and staff, the drive and talent of our students and the strong support of our alumni and partners,” Peter Rodriguez, dean of Rice Business, said in a news release. “They are exceptional honors but also reminders — not just of our top-tier programs and world-class faculty and students but of our broader impact on the future of business education.”

Rice also ranked at No. 6 for “greatest resources for minority students."

The Princeton Review’s 2025 business school rankings are based on data from surveys of administrators at 244 business schools as well as surveys of 22,800 students enrolled in the schools’ MBA programs during the previous three academic years.

"The schools that made our lists for 2025 share four characteristics that inform our criteria for designating them as 'best': excellent academics, robust experiential learning components, outstanding career services, and positive feedback about them from enrolled students we surveyed," Rob Franek, The Princeton Review's editor-in-chief, said in a press release. "No b-school is best overall or best for all students, but to all students considering earning an MBA, we highly recommend these b-schools and salute them for their impressive programs."

Rice's finance program has ranked in the top 10 for eight consecutive years, and its online MBA has ranked in the top five for four years.

Rice and the University of Houston also claimed top marks on the Princeton Review's entrepreneurship rankings. Rice ranks as No. 1 on the Top 50 Entrepreneurship: Grad list, and the University of Houston ranked No. 1 on Top 50 Entrepreneurship: Ugrad. Read more here.

Houston named ‘star’ metro for artificial intelligence in new report

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A new report declares Houston one of the country’s 28 “star” hubs for artificial intelligence.

The Houston metro area appears at No. 16 in the Brookings Institution’s ranking of metros that are AI “stars.” The metro areas earned star status based on data from three AI buckets: talent, innovation and adoption. Only two places, the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, made Brookings’ “superstar” list.

According to Brookings, the Houston area had 11,369 job postings in 2024 that sought candidates with AI skills, 210 AI startups (based on Crunchbase data from 2014 to 2024), and 113 venture capital deals for AI startups (based on PitchBook data from 2023 to 2024).

A number of developments are boosting Houston’s AI profile, such as:

Brookings also named Texas’s three other major metros as AI stars:

  • No. 11 Austin
  • No. 13 Dallas-Fort Worth
  • No. 40 San Antonio

Brookings said star metros like Houston “are bridging the gap” between the two superstar regions and the rest of the country. In 2025, the 28 star metros made up 46 percent of the country’s metro-area employment but 54 percent of AI job postings. Across the 28 metros, the number of AI job postings soared 139 percent between 2018 and 2025, according to Brookings.

Around the country, dozens of metros fell into three other categories on Brookings’ AI list: “emerging centers” (14 metros), “focused movers” (29 metros) and “nascent adopters” (79 metros).