Artificial intelligence and you: How Wells Fargo is using AI to make banking better

Artificial intelligence has gone from yesterday’s trending topic to today’s digital multitool. Even if you’re not caught up on the progress of AI, you’re likely already benefiting from AI when it comes to banking.

For customers, Wells Fargo’s investments in AI technology over the past decade have been paying off through smarter, faster, and easier banking experiences.

“AI may be the most impactful development we will witness in our lifetime,” said Charlie Scharf, Wells Fargo’s Chairman and CEO. “While we’ve been using AI within the company for years, AI should revolutionize how we handle both simple and complex tasks.”

Are you new to AI or trying to better understand it? Here’s what you need to know about this rapidly evolving technology and what it means for Wells Fargo customers.

What is artificial intelligence?

The simple definition of AI is that it’s a technology that uses data to recognize patterns, support decisions, and help complete tasks. Over time, some AI systems can improve based on the information they process and the feedback they receive.

Many of the most visible AI tools today are chatbots powered by large language models (LLMs), which are trained on immense amounts of data to recognize patterns and generate responses.

However, there’s far from one kind of AI system or program. These tools can look and act differently based on the data they’re trained on, from traditional machine learning and AI tools that can find patterns and make predictions all the way to generative or agentic AIs that create original content or handle many tasks semi-autonomously.

How Wells Fargo uses AI today

AI is different from earlier technology upgrades. AI is a fundamental shift in how companies like Wells Fargo operate.

“If you look at our strategy, it’s pretty simple: to fundamentally transform the way the bank operates,” said Saul Van Beurden, Wells Fargo’s Head of AI and Co-CEO of Consumer Banking & Lending. “This means making our people – especially our bankers – more productive, improving the customer experience, and removing manual work.”

If you’re a customer, just open your Wells Fargo Mobile app to see AI in action.

Fargo® is a virtual assistant that has helped customers get answers to their everyday banking questions on their smartphones more than 1 billion times and counting.¹ That has helped millions of customers save time they’d otherwise spend making a phone call, crunching numbers, or navigating apps, documents, and more just to find answers.

Fargo® uses conversational AI technology to understand what you want to do by comparing what you type or say in the app to data from countless consumer conversations. As Wells Fargo data scientists continue to refine the virtual assistant, Fargo will be able to give customers personalized recommendations about their finances to help them reach their goals.

There are other AI use cases that may shape your banking experience. For example, Intelligent Banker Book gives Wells Fargo bankers a unified, AI-powered view of the customer, helping them prepare faster and have more relevant, personalized conversations.

“Our licensed bankers used to spend a disproportionate amount of time just preparing for client meetings. Now, using AI, we’re able to generate summaries almost in real time and prep them with the right information for the meeting ahead,” said Faraz Shafiq, Wells Fargo’s head of AI products and solutions.

In customer service, the bank has streamlined support by bringing disconnected tools into one AI-driven workflow, so employees can respond more quickly and consistently when customers call.

In other areas of the bank, AI has sped up the process of opening an account or creating underwriting documents. Even the way Wells Fargo engineers create new technology is accelerated thanks to AI tools.

How AI benefits customers

AI helps make banking feel simpler, more personal, and easier to navigate. It can reduce wait times, cut down on repeated steps, and help customers get faster answers and more relevant support — whether through Fargo in the Wells Fargo Mobile app, conversations with a banker, or customer service interactions. Customers get what they need done faster with less friction.

For example, with the help of the AI driving Fargo, customers can get quick answers in the Wells Fargo Mobile app, track their spending patterns, and receive timely insights that make everyday banking easier.

How Wells Fargo approaches AI responsibly

Wells Fargo has been preparing for major changes with AI for years. The company has built shared technology platforms and safeguards that help teams use AI in a consistent, secure, and responsible way. At the same time, Wells Fargo continues to explore new ways AI could improve the customer experience in the future, such as writing quantum algorithms that one day could be supercharged with AI.

“We’ve established horizontal AI platforms with controls, monitoring, and human oversight built in from the start, so teams across the bank can use the capabilities in a consistent and responsible way,” said Swarup Pogalur, Wells Fargo’s Head of Digital and AI Capabilities Engineering.

Wells Fargo is committed to responsible technology and strong risk management – an approach that is especially critical for AI-based systems. Wells Fargo technologists design AI with oversight, auditability, and embedded risk and compliance guardrails. Human judgment and accountability remain central to everything the company does.

Looking ahead, AI will continue to reshape the banking experience, opening the door to new ways for customers to manage their money and connect with their bank.

“AI creates a whole new window of opportunity,” Van Beurden said. “We’re still in the early stages of what AI can make possible for our customers and our company, and many of the most meaningful breakthroughs are still ahead of us.”