We are at the dawn of driverless cars, and that means car ride services will soon replace many cars and their associated car loans. Lending services such as Rocket Mortgage, which says it can approve a mortgage loan in eight minutes, have forever changed consumer expectations on convenience and speed in the lending process. The rise of the importance of mobile platforms means any credit union that is behind that curve will lose members.

While all of these changes raise a very high bar for credit unions, they are nothing compared to the disruptive effect of artificial intelligence, which is coming soon. We already have robo-advisors for investment services and artificial intelligence has been shown to provide a more reliable medical diagnosis than doctors. If artificial intelligence can make a medical diagnosis, is there any job or profession that will be immune to some use of artificial intelligence, especially if the artificial intelligence can self-learn, such as IBM's Watson? When artificial intelligence can seamlessly interact with people as another person would, gather and analyze data instantaneously, and provide highly customized advice and services to consumers, it will be a monumental game changer. Yes, I know Siri is lame, but her very bright big sister is just around the corner.

If that is not enough to make you want to retire early, let me throw one more disrupting event in the mix. The tipping point for many financial institutions will be when the Amazons of the world form and fully integrate financial services with artificial intelligence in their digital ecosystems. Want to use a car? Amazon will send a car to you as you walk out the door per their car ride subscription plan (Prime Members get a discount). Want to buy a three-bedroom house in your school district within a stated price range with a swimming pool? Alexa will send you a list and video of the houses and make an appointment for you to see them. You negotiate with the sellers by text and agree to terms, which are documented digitally. Now for the mortgage. You are already a customer of Amazon Bank. You authorize Alexa (with biometric verification) to fill out a digital loan application (used by all of Amazon's partner mortgage lenders) and send it to you. You review the application and authorize Alexa to find you the lender with the best mortgage terms. You agree to Alexa's recommended lender choice. The lender underwrites the loan in five minutes (beating Rocket Mortgage by three minutes) and the lender sends the loan package over to you for a digital signature. You close on the house using the title insurance agency and closing agent recommended by Amazon. From start to finish, the loan process took almost an hour and you are disappointed it took so long. Alexa never directed you to a credit union.