A 76-year-old was about to lose his entire $3 million retirement to a scam. TIAA’s AI caught it—but a human prevented disaster

AI is increasingly taking over. But TIAA CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett insists, “it's still all about the humans” after staff saved a retiree millions.

Artificial intelligence has ushered in a new era for scammers. Within seconds, the technology can clone voices, generate convincing emails, and create realistic deepfakes capable of tricking victims into handing over life savings.

Put simply by TIAA CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett on an episode of Fortune’s Titans and Disruptors of Industry podcast: “There are so many scams.”

But the same technology is also helping humans detect suspicious behavior before money disappears. Recently, TIAA flagged an unusual request from a 76-year-old customer attempting to withdraw his entire $3 million retirement portfolio. According to Duckett, the retiree had been targeted by a scammer—but the company’s AI system was first to notice something was off.

“He was being scammed, but our AI tool flagged it,” she said. A portfolio manager then escalated the out-of-pattern withdrawal to TIAA’s fraud team, which spent hours trying to convince the customer he was being deceived.

“The first thing is you don’t want to believe you’ve been scammed,” Duckett said. “You’ve almost been trained to defend the scam.” Eventually, a fraud specialist contacted the man’s daughter, and TIAA stopped the money from moving.

“Our participant said to us, ‘You saved my bacon,’” recalled Duckett—who ranked as No. 7 on Fortune’s 2026 Most Powerful Women list.

AI is fueling over 1 million scams a year—reinforcing the need for human workers, according to Duckett 

Even before AI became mainstream, scamming was on the rise. 

Over $20.8 billion was lost to about 1 million cybercrime complaints in 2025 alone, according to the FBI—with older adults accounting for the largest number of complaints and total losses. In 2024, individuals over 60 years of age lost a staggering $4.8 billion to scams, while those aged 50-59 lost $2.5 billion. In comparison, overall cybercrime losses totaled to just $1 billion in 2015.

For Duckett, the case of the 76-year-old—and the broader rise in scams—underscores the continued need for humans and technology to work hand in hand to protect assets.

“This was the intersection of your workplace, which is our people, your culture, and AI, and that to me, is the opportunity,” Duckett said. “AI by itself would not have necessarily protected this person.”

“The human is not just in the loop, it’s still all about the humans,” she added. “It’s not just the loop, it’s the whole highway.”

TIAA’s CEO is just as optimistic about the future of work

Duckett’s outlook on AI also shapes how she thinks about the future of work at a moment when rapid tech advances are fueling anxiety about the labor market. While some graduates have booed mentions of AI during commencement speeches and companies have increasingly weaved the technology into restructuring plans, Duckett remains optimistic. Contrary to predictions from business leaders like Elon Musk that automation could one day render work obsolete, she argues jobs aren’t going anywhere.

“I don’t believe we will have a scenario where none of us are working and we’re just enjoying life. I don’t even think we would enjoy life if we’re not working,” Duckett said in conversation with Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell. “Working comes with dignity, working comes with perfection, purpose, all the things.”

Like past waves of disruption, Duckett expects some jobs to disappear—but many more to emerge in their place, particularly in areas tied to cybersecurity, fraud prevention, and AI oversight.

“Cyber is a big risk,” she said. “We will need more people in cyber, we will need more people monitoring, we will need more people analyzing what AI is telling you.”

Likewise, entry-level jobs won’t be immune to changes—but that doesn’t mean they will outright all disappear. In fact, she sees younger workers at an advantage. Digital natives often arrive more comfortable with emerging technologies and can help organizations understand both AI’s potential and its downsides.

“Our young people have always informed leaders on where the puck is going,” she said. Ignoring the next generation, she added, “would be a bad play.”

Above all, Duckett argued workers and leaders alike need to remain flexible 

“Agility is the most important skill set,” she said, pointing to how TIAA is increasingly rethinking jobs around projects, problem-solving, and cross-functional work. AI, she said, offers companies an opportunity to modernize work—but leaders also need to acknowledge the uncertainty many workers feel. 

“[AI] comes with a lot of anxiety, and it comes with a lot of, ‘What will this mean for me?’” Duckett said. “We have to be willing to have those open conversations, those honest conversations.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com