Did FinovateFall 2026 reflect a “coming of age” moment for AI?
It is probably too much and too soon to say that the current discourse around AI represents a milestone in–or, much less, a reckoning with–all the challenges and opportunities that AI technology presents. But the split-screen of last week’s conference was difficult to ignore: four days (including our Leaders+ pre-conference event) of sober, sophisticated discussion on what needs to be done to take our use of AI to the next level at the conference, while outside in the broader media landscape, the conversation is essentially a bet on how quickly AI will kill us all.
I don’t want to dismiss the concerns of those who are calling for a “slowdown” in AI development. And I certainly don’t want to suggest that those who are (and have been) working in AI for years have everything figured out. That said, we are clearly experiencing some sort of “coming of age” moment in our evolving relationship with AI. From the demoers to the keynote speakers, FinovateFall 2026 articulated several different versions of what that moment looks like and what it means.
The Other AI Reckoning
The existential debate aside, a different reckoning is clearly underway in the AI industry and that reckoning involves reconciling the millions of dollars already invested in AI projects with the mixed return on investment many of these projects have produced. As the “gold rush” stage of the AI era subsides, it is no longer good enough for an AI pilot to work; financial institutions need to see results that are in line with goals and expectations, creating efficiencies, generating revenue, and boosting profitability.
This is how Inbenta CEO Melissa Solis and Chief Technology Officer Merlin Bise framed it for me during a Finovate studio interview at the conference week. The transition from AI pilots to AI production means that AI investments will come under increased scrutiny. While this will inevitably be painful in many instances, the shift in focus from promise to proof represents important evidence of maturation in this space.
Another reckoning that has received relatively short shrift in the conversation about data centers and AI-driven extinction is the old fear that AI will be a job-killer, especially for middle-class, white-collar jobs in customer service and call centers, for example. This was an issue that Solis was particularly concerned about, noting that the “human side” of AI is not just about putting humans in the loop of AI decision-making, but also about ensuring that humans are net beneficiaries of the technology rather than casualties of it. This is true whether their labor is enhanced by AI or, ultimately, replaced by it. For those industries where the latter is likely, businesses need to be prepared to help those workers transition to new roles.
Scenes from the Stages
Was there a single AI presentation that did not at some point underscore the importance of governance?
If so, I must have missed it. From the mainstage to the industry stages, I was struck by the number of times keynote speakers and panelists referenced not just what AI can do—a common theme in presentations in recent years—but what companies and innovators need to do to ensure that AI is delivering on those capabilities. From the special address that referenced the origins of American football to explain the importance of creating playbooks for AI agents to panels that highlighted the role of AI orchestration and the importance of governance and auditability, if there was one word that summed up the attitude toward AI coming from the FinovateFall stage last week, it might be “controls.”
This is not to say that there still isn’t a sense of near-giddy excitement over the opportunities that AI presents. Jon Lakefish of the Lakefish Group delivered another standout keynote on the current state of AI tools and solutions, followed by a standing-room-only workshop on practical applications of these resources. Statements like “I’m blown away!” “Please can you send me the materials?” and “You’ve just saved me $40,000!” were a small sample of the kinds of responses Lakefish’s AI workshop received.
Learning from the Demos
I’ve always found reviewing the companies that won Best of Show to be a good way of understanding which fintech innovations are making an impression. This year’s FinovateFall gave us a lot to think about, particularly in relation to the spread of AI in general and agentic AI in particular throughout the industry.
AI-powered solutions were present, but they did not dominate the innovations of the Best of Show-winning companies. Clockout, which secured its second Best of Show win in as many appearances, leverages embedded finance to help financial institutions better serve customers and increase deposits. Young Early Starters, picking up a Best of Show award in its Finovate debut last week, offers an investing and education app and platform that is engaging without relying on gamification, or on AI for that matter. That said, a number of firms did leverage AI for key functions such as executing marketing campaigns (Vertice AI), or providing co-pilot assistance to developers operating in legacy environments (Tweezr).
When AI was on display it was often in the form of agentic AI, which featured prominently among the deployments demoed. Interestingly, many of these deployments are about augmenting human action rather than replacing it—from supporting developers in legacy environments, optimizing marketing campaigns, and guiding customer service and call center workers through complex processes and procedures. In many ways, AI is simultaneously a bridge from the current way of working to a new one and a new technological environment in its own right.
Photo by Emmanuel Olguín on Unsplash