Truist Financial is teeing up some artificial intelligence-backed tech initiatives this year as it pilots a virtual assistant and AI-driven insights platform for a yearend release.

Currently, the chatbot is in testing with a limited number of customers on the heritage BB&T mobile platform, Dan Massey, head of enterprise digital banking, told Bank Automation News. The tool will be able to help customers with product-related inquiries and account-specific tasks that require authentication, like money movement and transactions. It will roll out more broadly to all customers by yearend, when Truist begins the core bank conversion that will encompass the full technical integration of the SunTrust and BB&T tech stacks as part of the banks’ December 2019 merger.

The $509 billion bank has been working on the new chatbot for the better part of a year, Massey said.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based Truist is working predominately with Vancouver-based Finn AI, but is looking at a couple of different partners to tie various capabilities together, Massey said. Truist will build some aspects of the chatbot in-house, specifically the user interface, design aspects and visual properties.

The 6-year-old Finn AI offers pre-trained chatbots that need minimal additional learning, CEO Jake Tyler recently told BAN. Finn AI’s bot software understands more than 500 tasks out of the box and the fintech works with ATB Financial, United Federal Credit Union and Canadian challenger bank KOHO. The chatbot platform has raised $14 million to date, according to Crunchbase.

Other chatbot software providers in financial services include IBM Watson, Salesforce, which works with PenFed CU, and Personetics, which works with U.S. Bank, RBC and Santander — and today scored $75 million in funding.

Another priority for Truist this year is the development of an AI-driven insights platform, which is currently a separate venture from the AI-backed chatbot, but Massey noted there’s potential to bundle the two services together.

The AI will be used to analyze interactions, provide insights for customers to better manage their money, savings opportunities and spending patterns. The insights are currently focused on retail banking customers, however Massey plans to expand the tool across delivery channels and users, from small business banking clients to customer service representatives.

Currently in pilot with a handful of heritage BB&T customers, the AI-driven insights tool will launch more broadly to all Truist customers during the digital migration and core conversion. The bank is using concepts like behavioral economics and human-centered design to think about how to position the insights and the calls to action, Massey added.

For example, Truist leverages an API-based payments hub that the bank developed in-house. The hub handles all the bank’s digital money movements and is integrated into its various channels. If, for instance, a customer receives a higher-than-usual deposit, the bank could provide an insight that notes the higher amount and prompt the customer to move some of the difference to a specific savings fund. Based on the back-end infrastructure, Truist could design a one-click action that invokes the payment hub to move money between the accounts, Massey said.

“The truth is, all of these digital tools and experiences are a means to an end,” Massey said. “So the real end goal is to help our clients, to help them take control of their finances, feel like they have the transparency and control to then create financial confidence, which we believe helps folks lead happier lives.”

Bank Automation Ignite, on April 13-14, is the event for inspiring automation initiatives and investment in financial services. At the virtual event, financial services professionals can discover new use cases and technologies that are accelerating automation in banking. Learn more and register at www.BankAutomationIgnite.com.