Abstract Retail banking serves as the primary interface between the financial system and society, and thus AI advances in this field are highly visible and potentially disruptive. This article synthesizes numerous publicly communicated bank use cases, recent academic research, and insights from expert interviews to systematize current and anticipated AI developments in retail banking. Although these changes may appear abrupt to customers, they largely follow a logical progression when considered in the larger contexts of finance, information systems, and management science. These previously separate research domains are now converging through increasing customer orientation and service-centric approaches. Across use cases, the trend is toward highly personalized, comprehensive services—a “family office for everyone”—paired with efforts to support do-it-yourself financial management. For bankers, it is essential to recognize preferences for passive or active customer engagement to optimize resource allocation and to maintain competitiveness in a customer-centric market. For retail bank customers, AI may feel revolutionary, especially when it works seamlessly and intuitively. However, a smooth customer experience does not mean that challenges do not exist. Critical issues such as conflicts of interest, neutrality, and transparency in AI interactions remain largely unexplored through experimental and longitudinal studies. To advance future research, scholars must adopt interdisciplinary perspectives that integrate the technical and broader social science dimensions of AI in retail banking.