Lately I’ve been writing about the forces pressing in on community banks, from deposits quietly moving onto crypto rails to fraud that keeps getting harder to spot. AI sits underneath all of it, and it may also be the part of the conversation you’re most tired of having. I get it. There are only so many vendor demos and think pieces you can sit through before the word itself starts to feel like wallpaper. But the reason we can’t stop talking about it is the point. When an entire industry can’t look away from something, that’s usually worth paying attention to. The American Bankers Association surveyed more than 250 bankers on exactly this, and the picture it paints is one I recognize well: an industry that knows AI matters, moving carefully, and not always sure where to start. The starting line is your data...