In a move highlighting the increasing importance of artificial intelligence in banking, NatWest has announced the appointment of Dr. Maja Pantic as its first Chief AI Research Officer.

Dr. Pantic, a Professor of Affective & Behavioral computing at Imperial College London, previously held key research positions at Samsung AI Research Center in Cambridge and Meta London.

What Will Dr. Pantic Do at natwest?

Dr. Pantic’s extensive background positions her perfectly too lead NatWest’s AI initiatives. Her primary focus will be on developing AI applications, especially in the realm of multimodal AI, to defend against deepfakes and other threats involving Generative AI (GenAI). This includes implementing AI-driven tools to streamline operations and boost productivity across the bank.

Scott Marcar, NatWest group’s CIO, emphasized the role of AI in simplifying the bank’s services and enhancing customer experience. He believes Dr.Pantic’s expertise will enable natwest to adapt swiftly to evolving customer needs and strengthen its existing AI capabilities.

“AI is helping NatWest with simplifying its offerings and services…transform customers’ experience and become a trusted partner.” – Scott Marcar, CIO, NatWest Group

NatWest advances Its AI Strategy

Dr.pantic’s appointment is the latest step in NatWest’s broader AI strategy. The bank has previously collaborated with OpenAI and launched an internal genai platform for employees. Furthermore, NatWest reported meaningful success with its virtual assistant tools, Cora+ and AskArchie+.

natwest reported a 150% improvement in customer satisfaction due to the GenAI functionality in Cora+. These advancements have also reduced the need for human intervention,with AskArchie+ demonstrating similar positive outcomes.