Aaron Smith, CRO of Gestalt, is an AI super-believer who built his own investing app without writing code, but he’s also the first to say there are moments when only a human will do. In this conversation, Aaron reveals why frustration is the trigger point for human intervention, why data organization is the real bottleneck, and why credit unions must move faster than ever. He warns that technology is evolving quicker than the industry’s urgency, and that hesitation invites disruption. Aaron breaks down where AI should help, where humans must lead, and how credit unions can run towards AI, not away from it.

AI can handle repetitive tasks, speed up processes, and answer routine questions, but it can’t replicate human intuition, empathy, or the ability to see a member as a person. In this episode of Human by AI, Sound Credit Union President & CEO Don Clark shares how they’re leveraging AI tools like Octobot to assist employees, not replace them, and how human touch remains at the heart of member experience. Discover how Sound CU balances automation with empathy, encourages bottom-up adoption of AI, and ensures employees can focus on what machines can’t: understanding the story behind every member interaction.

Kitsap Credit Union CEO Shawn Gilfedder believes AI isn’t here to replace humans, it’s here to elevate them. From cutting a 24-hour internal audit process down to near-real-time checks, to reviewing 100% of loan applications instead of 3%, Shawn shows how agentic AI becomes a toolkit that rides alongside employees, not over them. At Kitsap, humans still sit at the center, solving problems, thinking critically, staying curious. AI does the repetitive work; people do the meaningful work. And in Shawn’s words, the goal is simple: help employees become the “master plumbers” of their environment.