NEW ORLEANS—For all the talk that artificial intelligence will lead to more payments fraud, maybe it’s just the opposite. 

“I believe AI is going to help mitigate fraud versus being an advocate for some nefarious fraudster out there that’s going to start using it for bad,” said Aleks Heckner, SVP Regional Sales Director - Treasury Management, Origin Bank.

Heckner was among the panelists at the April 29 session “ACH-ing for the Future: How Artificial Intelligence is Transforming Banking and Payments” at Smarter Faster Payments 2025. When asked about what he thinks AI will be able to bring to the financial world, Heckner said, “My hope is that AI will be able to detect the information that is being exchanged and be able to understand that it is fraud before money is disbursed.” 

Fighting fraud is just one of the myriad possibilities of AI.

“AI can look at your history and years of data, and can give you a bigger picture, a clearer picture of what’s to come,” said Melissa Cain, Manager of Investments, at the Florida Municipal Power Agency. “AI can see patterns and trends that we may not.” 

Cain also stressed that when it comes to introducing AI in the workplace, “You want your employees to feel involved with this process.”

“Make a plan. This needs to be a plan where we have goals, where we let our employees know why we’re doing this and how it will benefit the company,” said Cain. “Involve key employees in the decision-making. You get resistance from some employees when there is any kind of change, and this is a huge change.” 

Whatever your organization does with AI, and however it does it, Heckner cautioned against just ignoring AI, or risk being left behind.

“It has to be on the table,” said Heckner. “It’s a must.”