PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

With the tremendous recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), many businesses have begun to utilise it to improve their operations and enhance the customer experience. Utilising the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) as a theoretical framework, the present study examines the behavioural intentions of Saudi customers towards AI-powered banking. The UTAUT model is extended by incorporating trust and perceived risk as additional factors influencing customers’ behavioural intentions when using AI-powered banking, alongside perceived performance, perceived effort, and social influence. The participant sample for the study consisted of 323 bank customers. The findings of the structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis indicate that all the factors in the extended model affected customers’ intention to use AI-powered banking. Specifically, perceived performance, perceived effort, social influence, and trust had positive effects on the intention to use, whereas perceived risk had a negative effect on this intention. These results underscore the importance of developing more user-friendly and effective AI-powered banking services. Additionally, the results demonstrate the effectiveness of targeting customers through key individuals in their lives to encourage their adoption of AI-powered banking. Finally, gaining customers’ trust and lessening their perceived risk both increase their likelihood of using AI-powered banking.