As technology continues to evolve, the bar for people’s expectations of it is rising. It’s no longer just about speed, efficiency, or scale – people want to have confidence in how it’s being used, which reinforces the importance of judgement, empathy, and trust. That shift is prompting an even more collaborative approach to work, one that brings humans and AI together around shared goals.
At TD TechCon 2026, leadership and tech executives highlighted a shift in how AI and colleagues can work together, with AI supporting execution and scale so humans can then focus on better client and colleague outcomes. Thanks to the impressive capabilities of AI, colleagues will be able to focus less on repetitive execution and more on critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving.
When AI Tools Help Extend Human Capability
Kiran Vuppu, U.S. Chief Information Officer at TD, believes that humans can become the leaders of their own suite of tools. “It’s going to be less about doing and more about orchestrating and leveraging the tools,” Vuppu explains.
“Imagine managing or orchestrating a set of agents to get your work done right,” he says. “In this kind of hybrid workforce, human workers and AI agents come together. When you think about solutions and how you architect new processes, you will have to start thinking about how AI can elevate human judgement and decision-making.”
Despite the growth of AI, Vuppu explains that humans will always need to play a role in executing it. “These models don’t understand emotions and empathy as well as people do,” he says. “They are not great at change management or understanding how our clients are receiving products. Critical thinking is not a great strength of large language models. That’s where the human in the loop is going to be super important.”
The Human Element Remains Essential, Especially When Serving Clients
Chatbots and AI assistants are playing a larger role in serving clients. But when it comes to delivering support in sensitive situations, it’s essential to have a human responding. Doing it quickly and efficiently happens when frontline fraud agents can work alongside AI.
Daureen Younan, Associate Vice President, Canadian Fraud Operations at TD reiterates how important it is for frontline fraud agents to do their jobs with empathy. When speaking at TechCon in a panel about deepfakes, Younan had guests imagine how they would feel if they were a grandparent saving money for their grandchildren’s education or a hardworking adult retiring soon, then discovering that money had been moved. Or perhaps they’re receiving a call from a frontline fraud agent to verify a recent transaction.
“When clients are calling us, or if our frontline fraud teams are calling our clients, they’re prepared, they’re looking at tools and data points quickly,” Younan explains. “Our frontline teams are calm and resilient. They speak to clients with empathy and focus on protection and regaining that trust. Humans create comfort for our clients.”
Working with AI is what allows frontline fraud agents to make smart, quick decisions and deliver accurate and supportive responses. The important part for Younan is ensuring that clients in distress feel seen and heard by humans. “At the end of the day, we hear about their life stories,” she says. “We hear from our clients about more than just that transaction but how losing that money impacted those financial savings for their child or that Disneyland trip. If we do it right, this is where clients feel heard and can trust in their experiences with us.”
AI-enabled Platforms and Data Access Helps Human Agents Deliver More Seamlessly
Tarundeep Dhot, Vice President and Head Canadian Fraud Management at TD, says that having access to AI-enabled platforms allows frontline fraud agents to deliver key information reliably to establish trust. “I’m so proud that in the last year, we have onboarded cutting-edge AI-powered capabilities, all developed in-house” he explains.
At TD, we developed a patent pending AI powered fraud monitoring ecosystem which scans for threats by mining through billions of data points in real time, layering contextual insights and recommending mitigation actions to the fraud team. When an anomaly is identified, the system will identify it, triage it, and help enable effective mitigation, before it becomes a risk for clients.
The next iteration of the Bank’s newest innovation serves as a virtual assistant for our frontline fraud agents who service clients. “Think of it as a search engine that provides contextual and case relevant information to our colleagues as they review cases. This is a great example of how we are using intellectual capital with AI to serve clients faster leading to better-quality decisions,” according to Dhot. “And the clients are recognizing the enhanced personalization as we service them in the moment of vulnerability,” he says.
Dhot sees a future where AI is handling speed, scale and precision while humans delivering empathetic and personalized experiences. “As banks continue to strengthen fraud controls, bad actors are increasingly targeting clients directly through scams. TD is increasing its focus for such situations by taking an AI-powered, yet more human approach to serving our clients, and in-house innovations are helping us redefine the future of fraud management at the Bank.”
Humans Remain At The Heart of Tech and Banking at TD
Vlad Shpilsky, Head of Global Technology & Solutions, reminds us that despite the advancements and new technologies that are being introduced, humans are central to the work that TD does to bring new digital experiences to life.
Shpilsky implored TD staff, in tech or otherwise, to always keep the human element at top of mind when they work. “As you’re designing, as you’re building, as you’re participating, ask yourself, is this really the more human way to do this?” Shpilsky says. “Technology and data are driving a lot of the solutions that clients need, but never, ever take the human piece away.”