ING Aether - Banking with AI Agents and Gen UI

Three questions to the project team

What was the particular challenge of the project from a UX point of view?
This project addresses two critical dimensions of user challenges. From a user experience standpoint, one major focus was the seamless integration of AI into a next-generation banking application. The goal was to ensure that AI improves usability and lowers the learning curve, rather than adding friction. From an AI interaction perspective, the key focus was on balancing automation with user agency and autonomy—ensuring users retain control, can make independent decisions, and understand how much they can trust the AI-generated outcomes.

What was your personal highlight in the development process? Was there an aha!-moment, was there a low point?
During my research into existing AI-powered banking apps on the market, I found that most of them embed AI in the form of a chatbot—resulting in a fragmented experience where AI is disconnected from the app’s core functionalities. Chat-based interactions are also inherently inefficient. Moreover, AI often remains passive, leaving users unaware of what it can actually do. Through multiple iterations, I realized that the future of AI in banking should be decentralized and seamlessly integrated across all functionalities. AI should proactively anticipate user needs and behaviors, offering contextual assistance at the right moment.

Where do you see yourself and the project in the next five years?
In the next five years, I hope that ING Aether’s AI features will gradually be released to users following rigorous security testing. As more user feedback is gathered and AI technology continues to evolve, I believe more intuitive UX patterns will emerge. I also aspire to champion the concept of Proactive Human-AI Interaction and extend the novel UX patterns I created in ING Aether to other industries—sparking the next revolution in user experience design.