BNY Mellon Blurs The Line Between Staff And Software With AI-Powered Employees / Fresh Today / CUToday.info

NEW YORK—Bank of New York Mellon now has dozens of AI-powered “digital employees” with company logins, working alongside human staff across various departments, the Wall Street Journal reported.

According to BNY Chief Information Officer Leigh-Ann Russell, these digital workers operate autonomously in tasks such as coding and validating payment instructions. Like their human counterparts, they report to direct managers—and soon, they’ll be equipped with company email accounts and potentially able to collaborate via tools like Microsoft Teams, the Journal said.

“This is the next level,” Russell said. While it’s still early for the technology, Russell added, “I’m sure in six months’ time it will become very, very prevalent.” 

What BNY refers to as “digital workers,” other FIs might call “AI agents.” While the industry hasn’t settled on a single term, what’s clear is that artificial intelligence is rapidly expanding its role in financial services, the Journal said.

Not all institutions are going as far as giving AI full system logins, but many are developing applications that increasingly mirror the functions and workflows of human employees. These AI tools are taking on a growing range of responsibilities, from supporting the software development life cycle to conducting research. Banks like JPMorgan Chase say they’re still evaluating the right level of access, oversight, and integration—and just how humanlike these systems should ultimately become, the Journal explained.

BNY said it took about three months for its AI Hub to develop two digital employee personas: one focused on identifying and fixing code vulnerabilities, and another on validating payment instructions. Each persona can be deployed in multiple instances, with each instance assigned to a specific team to ensure no single digital worker has broad access across the organization, Russell told the Journal.

Because these AI workers have their own logins and can access the same applications as human employees, they’re able to operate autonomously. For example, a digital engineer can detect a code vulnerability, generate a patch, and submit it through the system for a human manager’s review and approval, Russell explained.

BNY said it plans to expand its digital workforce’s capabilities by granting access to enterprise communication tools like email and Microsoft Teams, enabling AI workers to proactively reach out to human managers when they encounter tasks they can’t complete on their own. The bank is also developing digital employees for functions beyond coding and payment validation. While it builds out this AI workforce, BNY emphasized it will continue to recruit top human talent in parallel, the Journal said.