Citigroup launches AI tools for 1,40,000 employees in 8 countries, tech head says ‘like having a super-smart coworker…’

Citigroup began rolling out on Wednesday new artificial intelligence tools to be used by employees in eight countries, senior executives said.

Around 1,40,000 employees will have access to the tools. In a memo to staff sent on Wednesday, Tim Ryan, head of technology and business enablement, explained how these tools work.

Citi Assist searches internal bank policies and procedures. "It’s like having a super-smart coworker at your fingertips to help navigate commonly used policies and procedures across HR, risk, compliance, and finance," Ryan said in the memo.

The other tool, Citi Stylus, is able to summarize, compare or search multiple documents at the same time. Beginning this month, both tools will be accessible to employees in the US, Canada, Hungary, India, Ireland, Poland, Singapore and the United Kingdom. They will be gradually expanded to other markets.

Large banks have been using artificial intelligence tools in more targeted ways. Morgan Stanley has a chatbot that helps financial advisors in interactions with clients, and Bank of America's virtual assistant Erica focuses on day-to-day transactions of retail clients.

Ryan said in a video interview with Reuters that Citi will review how employees are interacting with the tools to develop new uses for them, but staff may also make proposals. "These tools will help to simplify work and increase productivity.", he added.

Ryan, a former PwC executive, joined Citigroup earlier this year and is responsible since September for fixing the bank's longstanding data management issues alongside Chief Operating Officer Anand Selva.

Chief Technology Officer David Griffiths said in the interview that the artificial intelligence initiatives are "separate" from the work being carried to improve the bank's data quality and infrastructure to comply with regulators consent orders.

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