Citi® Gen AI Summit 2024 Takeaways: The State of Gen AI at Citi

Arvind Purushotham

Arvind Purushotham

Head of Citi Ventures

Published on October 1, 2024
The opinions expressed in this blog are solely the authors' and do not reflect the views of Citi.

I had the distinguished honor of kicking off this year’s Citi® Gen AI Summit by moderating a fireside chat on the current state of Gen AI at Citi with David Griffiths, Citi’s Chief Technology Officer and Head of Engineering & Architecture, and Shadman Zafar, Citi’s Co-Chief Information Officer.

While Gen AI has become a rather hot topic over the last 18 months, Citi’s interest in the space is not new. The bank has been investing in, testing and deploying AI for several years now — in fact, in 2023 we led all major banks in AI venture investments — and as a result is already well into its Gen AI journey.

My conversation with David and Shadman covered the past, present and future of this journey, helping demonstrate how Citi is harnessing Gen AI’s power and scaling its use across the firm. Read on for my key takeaways from this inspiring, thought-provoking talk.

Citi is leading the way in responsible Gen AI

Guided by our commitment to transforming and strengthening the bank, Citi is proactively embracing gen AI as an essential part of our strategy to win. We are exploring dozens of use cases for the technology across every business and function, and have already begun to see the impact as we roll out Gen AI tools like GitHub Copilot to Citi employees. The ultimate goal of this work is to build an end-to-end, AI-enabled tech stack from the ground up, which we will be able to use for decades to come.

As we do so, we remain committed to leveraging Gen AI as safely and responsibly as possible. As one of the first companies to implement ethical principles for AI, we are laser-focused on protecting client data, building guardrails around the technology and managing its risks in close partnership with regulators and other stakeholders.

Citi’s top Gen AI use case is delighting our clients

Gen AI can help Citi provide our clients — whether they be consumers or corporates — with high-quality, next-gen experiences more efficiently than ever before. It can do so in three main ways, as of now:

  1. Increasing productivity. Boosting productivity across the bank, from engineering and operations to knowledge work, is making Citi a better service provider to our clients. Even seemingly simple improvements, like documenting internal systems from end to end in order to better train new hires, can drastically improve productivity.
  2. Customizing solutions. Gen AI can help Citi better understand a client’s goals, anticipate their needs and offer products and services to meet those needs in the moment they arise.
  3. Personalizing service. With Gen AI-driven insights, copilots and other tools at their fingertips, Citi’s client managers and support teams can deepen their conversations with clients and provide meaningful, specific guidance in real time.

The backbone of Citi’s Gen AI strategy is our workforce

Like all new technologies, Gen AI is only as effective as the people who use it — thus, as we begin to roll it out across the bank, Citi is implementing several strategies to establish an AI-first mindset within our workforce and train employees in how to work with Gen AI tools.

These efforts include:

  1. Self-directed training. Self-starters and autodidacts at Citi can take self-directed online courses developed by David and his team.
  2. Apprenticeships. Colleagues interested in more formalized training can apprentice themselves to a Citi Gen AI expert and complete a project under their supervision. Successful apprentices can then be certified as Gen AI experts themselves and start training other colleagues.
  3. Piloting new tools and processes. At the end of the day, the most powerful way to upskill workers for the Gen AI era is putting the tools in their hands and letting them test them out in controlled and supervised environments — as Citi has done with several promising Gen AI apps, including GitHub Copilot.

All in all, Citi is clear that the greatest application of AI will be in amplifying the power of people and enhancing their work. As time goes on, we will continue to help our colleagues develop the skills they need to manage AI responsibly.

At the end of my fireside chat with David and Shadman, I came away with a fuller sense of how thoughtful and thorough Citi has been in testing and deploying Gen AI across the bank. I’m proud of the part Citi Ventures has played in this journey by investing in and collaborating with many of the world’s top AI startups, and look forward to helping build even more game-changing, Gen AI-driven capabilities in the years to come.