Inside Look: Bank of America’s top-down AI training handbook
$2.6T bank wants to ensure leaders are adding value to their teams
Bank of America is focused on training its leaders to use AI as it deploys tools to make operations more efficient.
The bank appointed Michael Wynn as the head of its academy for AI capabilities and enterprise learning in February. Wynn previously led the organization’s virtual reality training division, according to his LinkedIn post.
AI development and deployment within the bank are happening at a “very fast” pace, Wynn told FinAi News, adding that his new role is a testament to that.
The $2.6 trillion bank has provided basic training, which includes an introduction to AI and how it works, to all 213,000 full-time employees at the bank, Wynn said.
Even though the bank is offering the training sessions to all employees, it started leg two of the training with leaders first, he said.
“We have started with leaders first because we want the leaders to coach their own teams and associates,” Wynn said.
The bank is teaching leaders of all business lines and other operational departments on how AI can aid their specific department and job function, he said, adding that the bank will then provide the same training to employees under the department heads and then tackle the next tranche.
The idea behind the top-down model is that if a team of 50 people knows how to use AI but the leader doesn’t, then the leader cannot “add enough value to them.”
AI training
Other FIs, including Varo Bank, are choosing a similar approach of providing basic AI training for all employees and then providing targeted AI training for job functions, Varo Bank Chief AI and Data Officer Asmau Ahmed, said during FinAi Banking Summit this month.
The bank is building a prompt engine that encourages employees to submit prompts they have found useful for their job function to work more efficiently. The prompts are then shared with everyone in the bank, she said.
The bank is using Microsoft Copilot as an AI tool for all employees, Bank of America’s Wynn said, adding that it is evaluating other models to bring onboard.
Bank of America also focuses on teaching customers about how to use new AI-driven tools that it launches for easier adoption, Wynn said.
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