The Lead
ATMs Didn't Kill the Bank Teller. The iPhone Did.
By Vivek Narayanamurthy10 min read
What a 50-year-old banking story tells us about whether AI is coming for software engineers.
In 1970, there were about 300,000 bank tellers in the United States. Then came the ATM. Everyone knew what this meant. A machine that could count cash faster and more accurately than a human, available at 2am, never calling in sick. The teller was finished.