Cut to Context is a podcast about AI, banking, and reinvention in real time mixed with a bit of pop culture, music, art, and literature. It explores the ideas, decisions, and tensions shaping the future of financial services, from innovation and product design to partnerships, leadership, and the evolving role of AI. Thoughtful, candid, and grounded in real-world change, Cut to Context helps listeners make sense of what AI is and what it isn't. For banking leaders, fintech thinkers, and anyone interested in where AI meets strategy, Cut to Context offers a thoughtful, grounded perspective.
The Harness Problem: Governing AI That Starts Over Every Time
Every time an AI agent runs, it starts fresh, with no memory of what it did last. Presidio CTO Rob Kim joins Adam Blue to explain what that means for keeping AI accountable, and why swapping one AI model for another can undo a process that was working fine. Their bigger point: Banks don't need smarter AI to win. Today's tools already hold decades of untapped value.
AI for Everyone (https://www.q2.com/ai-for-everyone)
Cut to Context (https://www.q2.com/podcasts/tag/cut-to-context)
"Tron," directed by Steven Lisberger (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084827/?_ssoLoop=1)
"Brain Rules," by John Medina (https://brainrules.net/)
17 Sept 2026
Maybe the AI Comes Last
Bank and credit union leaders exploring AI in banking will recognize this story. Before Q2 added AI to its own customer support organization, it rebuilt the team, the workflows, and how it measured success. Adam Blue talks with Lou Senko about why the AI came last, and what that means for financial institutions building an AI strategy of their own.
Related Links
"How Transformation in the AI Era Is a People Program," blog by Lou Senko on the Forbes Technology Council
AI for Everyone (https://www.q2.com/ai-for-everyone)
"Big," directed by Penny Marshall (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094737/)
Cut to Context podcast page (https://www.q2.com/podcasts/tag/cut-to-context)
3 Sept 2026
Trust Is the Attack Surface
AI has made deepfakes cheap and convincing enough to fool an entire video call—voices, faces, and all. In this episode, CTO Adam Blue talks with Jeff Scott, managing director of Fraud Intelligence at Q2, about why verification itself has become the attack surface, how behavioral and journey-based monitoring can catch what voice and video can't, and how AI-driven detection shared across financial institutions is starting to close the gap between attackers and defenders.
Related Links
Account Takeover Is a Journey Problem: Here's How to Solve It (https://www.q2.com/blog/account-takeover-is-a-journey-problem-heres-how-to-solve-it)
Stopping Account Takeover: The Power of Modern Fraud Intelligence
AI for Everyone (https://www.q2.com/ai-for-everyone)
"Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt" by Michael Lewis
20 Aug 2026
The Bill Nobody Budgeted For
AI pricing doesn't behave like the software pricing banks are used to. Q2 CFO Jonathan Price joins CTO Adam Blue to talk through why token costs are simultaneously falling and driving total spend up, what Q2 has learned managing its own AI bill, and why the future of AI pricing may look less like "token-plus" and more like value-based pricing built around outcomes both sides can agree on.
Related Links
AI for Everyone (https://www.q2.com/ai-for-everyone)
"Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters" (https://watch.ecstasyoforder.com)
6 Aug 2026
Earning the Right to Use AI
Orion Severhill, VP of Digital Channels & Strategy at Mission Fed Credit Union, has a rule: Junior engineers don't get access to AI coding tools until they can think through architecture on their own. In this episode, he explains why he has that policy and what it means for regulated institutions trying to move fast without getting it wrong. His thesis is simple. The AI can only give you back what you give it.
Related Links
Q2 Code: Practical AI for Financial Institutions
A Closer Look at Q2 Code (https://www.q2.com/blog/a-closer-look-at-q2-code)
AI for Everyone (https://www.q2.com/ai-for-everyone)
"Burning Chrome" by William Gibson
23 Jul 2026
The Paycheck Motel: Silent Attrition and the AI Fix
Your best customers have accounts everywhere, and your dashboard probably doesn't show it. Jim Marous, co-publisher of The Financial Brand and host of the Banking Transformed podcast, joins Adam Blue to examine silent attrition, the changing definition of primacy, and the specific things AI makes possible when a financial institution is finally willing to ask hard questions and act on what it learns.
Related Links
The Financial Brand (https://thefinancialbrand.com)
Banking Transformed (https://www.youtube.com/@BankingTransformedPodcast)
AI for Everyone (https://www.q2.com/ai-for-everyone)
"The Martian" by Andy Weir
9 Jul 2026
Build More, Experiment Wilder, Be More Wrong
Nearly half of all banks and credit unions have deployed generative AI. So why isn't anyone measuring it? Adam Blue sits down with Ron Shevlin, chief research officer at Cornerstone Advisors and author of the Fintech Snark Tank, to dig into the gap between AI activity and AI impact at community institutions. The conversation takes an unexpected turn through Rick Rubin, Link Wray, and a beat-up Cadillac in Brooklyn, and lands somewhere more interesting than the data alone.
Related Links
Fintech Snark Tank (https://ronshevlin.substack.com/)
Ron Shevlin on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronshevlin/)
Adam Blue on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-blue-537810/)
More about AI at Q2 (https://www.q2.com/ai-for-everyone)
"The Creative Act: A Way of Being" by Rick Rubin (https://sites.prh.com/thecreativeact)
25 Jun 2026
Governing the Machine You Can't See
When an AI agent replaces a human at the keyboard, who's accountable for what it touches? Adam Blue and Chris Struttmann of ALTR explore why identity—not just policy documents—is the foundation of trustworthy AI in banking, and why organizations without strong identity systems are already starting behind.
Related Links
Anthropic's pause proposal
Q2's Helix and ALTR case study
Marcel Duchamp (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Duchamp)
ALTR (https://altr.com/about-altr/)
18 Jun 2026
Ask to See the Bad Demo
Build it, buy it, or find a partner? That's the decision facing financial institutions when it comes to AI capabilities. Abeer Thomson, Q2 senior director of Partner Engineering and Operations, joins CTO Adam Blue to work through what that decision looks like in practice and what separates the AI partners worth trusting from the ones who just demo well.
Related Links
AI for Everyone
Q2 Innovation Studio
Federal Banking Agencies Issue Revised Guidance on Model Risk Management
"Burning Chrome" by William Gibson
11 Jun 2026
The Boring Work Behind the Shiny Promise
The AI announcements keep coming, and the language keeps getting bigger—agentic operating systems, intelligent orchestration layers, the future of commercial banking—all in one tidy package. But pull back the curtain and there's usually a lot of unglamorous engineering work holding the whole thing up. In this episode, Adam Blue sits down with Anthony Ianniciello, Q2 VP of Product Management, to talk about where AI is actually earning its keep in commercial banking, from treasury fulfillment and payment observability to small business education, and what banks should really be asking before they buy into the next big promise.
Related Links
AI for Everyone, Q2 (ai-for-everyone)
Q2 Treasury Fulfillment (blog/equip-teams-to-fulfill-treasury-requests-faster)
Clockwatchers (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118866/)
2 Jun 2026
What AI Actually Looks Like at a Community Bank
What does AI adoption actually look like inside a community bank? Michael Purifoy, chief treasury and digital banking officer at VeraBank, joins Adam Blue at Q2's CONNECT 26 conference for a candid, on-the-floor conversation about where the technology is earning its keep and where the real work is still ahead. From an 18-month process mapping exercise that surfaced two years of workflow debt, to the harder challenge of helping employees see change as an opportunity rather than a threat, Michael shares what disciplined, customer-first AI deployment looks like in practice.
Related Links
Introducing Q2 Assistant
AI for Everyone (https://www.q2.com/ai-for-everyone)
"Headshot" by Rita Bullwinkel
28 May 2026
Grow the Pie: AI, Lending, and the Credit Gap
Adam Blue talks with Bill Gravette, GM of Symphonix at Q2, about what happens to the loan process when AI enters the picture. From document processing and credit memos to alternative data and fair lending, they dig into where AI is already earning its keep in credit decisioning and why the loan officer, far from being replaced, may be one of the biggest beneficiaries.
Related Links
"Start at the Fuzzy Edges: A Practical AI Strategy for Lenders," Giridhar Thoopurani and Bill Gravette
"The AI Adoption Journey: A Survey of Credit Union Leaders," Filene
AI for Everyone, Q2 (https://www.q2.com/ai-for-everyone)
Symphonix (https://symphonix.com/)
"The Minority Report," Philip K. Dick (https://youtu.be/_Il4Qb4CozM?si=7rbh7c58_8xs4oOj)
"Minority Report," Steven Spielberg (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181689/)
21 May 2026
When the Robot Gets the Keys
AI is moving fast, but banking has to move with care. In this episode, Adam Blue talks with Q2 Chief Information Security Officer Beth Anne Bygum about the difference between AI that's interesting and AI that's ready for the real world.
Related Links
AI for Everyone, Q2 (https://www.q2.com/ai-for-everyone)
Brick (https://youtu.be/d9xjSoIyE-4?si=R8ySflLMPyPrZr4d)
14 May 2026
Beyond the Chatbot: AI and the Future of Digital Banking
In the past couple of years, AI conversations at financial institutions have changed from "should we?" to "where should we next?" Adam Blue and Corey Gross discuss how banks and credit unions can move from broad experimentation to focused AI investments that align with their strategy in areas like operational workflows, fraud prevention, and support resolution.
Related Links
AI for Everyone, Q2 (https://www.q2.com/ai-for-everyone)
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (https://youtu.be/dx43uPkFwTY?si=3WoiNSMJgKp6q43w)
7 May 2026
The Human Side of AI Transformation
AI is changing how work gets done, but the most important question may be what it allows people to do better. In this episode of Cut to Context, Q2 CTO Adam Blue talks with Chief People Officer Kim Rutledge about how the role AI plays in the workday, including employee uncertainty, the value of judgment, and how automation can create more space for meaningful work.
Related Links
AI for Everyone, Q2 (https://www.q2.com/ai-for-everyone)
"Aladdin Sane" by David Bowie (https://youtu.be/so_BjDt_Mes?si=4DXKP79kL38E8CTA)
30 Apr 2026
Mythos, Banking, and the End of Slow Patching
Claude Mythos has pushed AI cyber risk from an abstract future problem into a live banking issue. In this episode, Adam Blue talks with Beth Anne Bygum and Ryan Hollister about what changes when AI can discover vulnerabilities at machine speed and how to think clearly about security, governance, and resilience without sliding into panic.
Related Links
Alignment Risk Update: Claude Mythos Preview, Anthropic
AI for Everyone, Q2 (https://www.q2.com/ai-for-everyone)
"The Prestige" directed by Christopher Nolan
23 Apr 2026
Fast Laps, Tight Guardrails
In this episode of the podcast, CTO Adam Blue talks with Q2 COO Hima Mukkamala about how to move quickly with AI without getting swept up in the market's hype cycle. They explore what responsible speed looks like in banking, why vibe coding changes who gets to build, and how financial institutions can innovate faster without losing sight of trust, compliance, or real customer value.
Related Links
Q2 Code (products/digital-banking/innovation-studio/q2-code)
More about AI at Q2 (ai-for-everyone)
"Aeroplane Over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel (https://youtu.be/r3DqBk9YNXA?si=oSoANsI2m85Kv2ZJ)
9 Apr 2026
Welcome to Cut to Context
In the first episode of Cut to Context, a new podcast focused on AI, Q2 CTO Adam Blue sets the table for the conversations ahead about how Q2 is thinking about AI in a way that stays grounded in people, trust, and real work. It's an introduction and an invitation to think about AI not as spectacle, but as a tool for better judgment, better systems, and better banking.
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