CHARLOTTE, N.C.–As credit unions wrestle with their own strategies for deploying and responding to generative AI in 2026 and beyond, one of the nation’s largest banks is leaning on sustained research and technology investments to rapidly scale multiple use cases, according to one analysis.
Bank of America has unveiled a generative AI-powered knowledge management assistant called AskGPS for its Global Payments Solutions division, according to CIO Dive, which reported that in-house engineers fed the model 3,200 internal documents, from product guides and term sheets to FAQs. The tool provides tailored answers to the division’s more than 40,000 business clients, according to BofA.
‘Would Take Up to an Hour’
“Pre-generative AI, we had standard library search to find documents, not answers, and they simply didn’t have the power of generative AI,” Jarrett Bruhn, head of data and AI for GPS at Bank of America, told CIO Dive. “Deep, difficult questions would take up to an hour of searching.”
According to the report, AskGPS speaks 29 languages, a major advantage for a globally dispersed banking unit, and is already easing the onboarding process for new hires.
The ‘Go-To’
“This is their go-to for acronyms and product knowledge,” Bruhn told CIO Dive. “If you’re in a meeting and supply chain finance comes up or someone mentions a new acronym, you no longer have to spend all that time digging through everything to access the product knowledge.”
BofA shared with CIO Dive that the idea for AskGPS began germinating early in the evolution of commercial-grade large language model capabilities, and that engineers on the GPS team worked with the bank’s global technology team on the building process, from initial design through deployment.
Collaboration ensured that the tool would be scalable, secure and aligned with the bank’s broader AI strategy to “build adaptable tools that benefit multiple lines of business,” a Bank of America spokesperson told CIO Dive.
Fertile Soil
CIO Dive said the bank found banking has provided fertile soil for data-hungry generative AI applications.
“Bank of America and its peers in the heavily regulated financial industry were well positioned to impose sturdy guardrails around sensitive data amid the proliferation of potential use cases,” the report stated.
Bank of America’s commitment to innovation has yielded 7,400 patents and pending applications, including 1,200 tied to AI and machine learning, CIO Dive reported.
Erica Sees Widespread Adoption
BofA’s Erica for Employees virtual assistant has spread to more than 90% of its 213,000 employees in April of this year. The tool, which was introduced in 2020, has since cut the number of IT service calls by half, Bank of America said.
