Our next chapter: An AI-enabled WEX

At WEX, our years of investment and training have positioned us to scale an AI-enabled way of working to deliver the speed, simplicity, and innovation our customers expect in today’s complex business environment. By combining our industry expertise and proprietary data with the power of AI, we are helping navigate critical business challenges. Read CEO Melissa Smith’s full post below.

WEXers,

When I look back at the technical advancements throughout my career, nothing comes close to what artificial intelligence makes possible. I can’t think of a time when a single technology has had this much potential to change how we work, serve customers, and compete. Because of the investments we’ve made and the way many of you have embraced AI, we are uniquely positioned to scale our efforts. This next step requires a new way of working, which is why I want to be direct with you about what I expect. 

WEX sits at the center of mission-critical markets where accuracy, trust, and control are essential. Our customers rely on us to help them navigate complexity: moving money, empowering confident decisions, and simplifying what is difficult in their businesses. That hasn’t changed. What has changed is the opportunity in front of us. Businesses increasingly expect the same speed and simplicity they experience as consumers. 

We have spent years preparing for that opportunity, which has positioned us to scale into something much bigger: an AI-enabled way of working across every function at WEX.

For the past five years, we have been deliberate about where and how we applied AI. We started by embedding it in areas of the business where the impact would be the clearest: risk, technology and digital, and operations. That approach has allowed us to reduce healthcare claims reimbursement times from two days to just under two minutes on average. It helped us increase product innovation velocity by more than 50% in 2025. It also provided a path for us to proactively increase credit limits for over 100,000 Mobility customers amidst rising fuel prices this year. These results are the outcome of a methodical strategy executed with discipline that sets us apart as we scale.

At the same time, we have invested in you. Through enterprise-wide tools, training programs, and our AI Accelerators community, we focused on enabling AI fluency across the organization. Today, 85% of WEXers report using AI weekly. According to a recent Gallup poll, only about 28% of U.S. workers use AI that frequently. This puts WEX ahead of many organizations. 

Our recent Forbes recognition for company culture is evidence we have the team and culture to embrace change without losing sight of who we are. We also have durable advantages that are hard to replicate: domain expertise, owned financial infrastructure like WEX Bank, proprietary data, scaled networks, and integrated technology. When you combine AI with those strengths, knowledge that once lived within a single team or workflow can be applied more broadly across WEX, as appropriate. 

To fully realize that potential, we need to work differently. Using AI tools isn’t enough. Moving forward, I want all of us to rethink how the work itself gets done using these five principles. 

• Start with the outcome, not the tool: Identify what you are trying to achieve, and use AI where it can improve quality, speed, or insight.
• Redesign the work: Look for places where you can build AI into workflows, rather than adding on top of them. The goal is not just faster tasks; it is simpler experiences, better decisions, and stronger outcomes.
• Apply judgment: Question outputs and remain accountable for the result.
• Experiment and share: Apply AI to real work, learn from it, and help others build confidence.
• Protect trust: Use approved tools, follow WEX policies, and treat customer, employee, financial, and proprietary information with care.

Trust is the foundation of everything we do. Never enter confidential or regulated WEX information into any AI tool in a manner inconsistent with our policies. Do not use AI outputs to make final business decisions without appropriate review and validation. We must protect that trust. 

I want to acknowledge that meeting these expectations will take effort. Building AI fluency takes time, and you will feel slower before you move faster. That’s normal. I genuinely believe that investing in these skills today will give you capabilities that will stay with you throughout your career. Starting with your mid-year check-ins, your manager will ask how you’re using AI in your daily work. This dialogue should mark the beginning of an ongoing conversation. 

AI will continue to reshape the roles and skills we need. As the work evolves, we will be thoughtful about where we invest, how we shape our workforce, and how we build new capabilities across the company. I don’t have every answer about how roles may change. What I can commit to is being transparent with you as we continue to evolve.

Few technological advancements have the potential to reshape how we work as profoundly as this one. This is our opportunity to shape what this next chapter looks like for WEX. Let’s move forward together with urgency, care, and curiosity. 

Melissa