Auto lenders have identified research as a core use of AI and automation but must be mindful that some tasks are complicated and require human oversight.
AI, for example, can help compliance teams sift through mounds of documents related to consumer disputes and complaints, RJ Naples, associate general counsel and compliance officer at Veros Credit, said during a panel at Auto Finance Summit 2026 last week in Las Vegas.
“I use AI probably 30% to 40% of my day,” he said. “I generally know where I need things to go, so I’ll ask it to do some basic research. Summaries are great; the LLMs can digest a lot of data and give pretty accurate results of ‘this is what this giant document states.’”
Compliance teams must review a significant amount of data to “find that needle in the haystack,” Naples said.
“That’s where AI can be useful because it’s going to digest a lot of information,” he said, adding that quality oversight is still critical.
“You need to make sure your team understands exactly what they’re looking for to have the right prompts or queries. … You still have to … have enough bandwidth to make sure that everything is looked at.”
AI as a research assistant can provide answers much quicker but “will never take the brain out of it,” Cory Hagnauer, director of auto compliance at Ally Financial, said during the panel.
“[AI] gives us that kickstart. You’re starting 15 meters down the racetrack there.” — Cory Hagnauer, Ally Financial
“It just gives us that kickstart,” he said. “You’re starting 15 meters down the racetrack there.”
Keeping humans in loop
As financiers use AI to improve efficiency, they must retain human oversight to ensure all decisions can be explained to regulators, Philip Bohi, general counsel at the American Financial Services Association, said during the session.
“If you are sued or you have a regulatory exam, the judge or jury or examiner is going to want to talk to a person about what your company did,” he said. “When you do not have a satisfying complete explanation of what you did and how you did it, then that’s going to be a negative outcome for you.
“I’m concerned that folks are comfortable with AI making decisions, which is different than using it for research,” he added. “As a lender or any user of AI, you can’t just say, ‘Well, I don’t know why [we] did it; the AI told us to.”
Stay up to date on all the news coming out of Auto Finance Summit 2026 here.
