American Express is deploying AI across the company in a variety of areas, including in sales, engineering and customer service.
The bank and card network company has “mobilized” around AI opportunities, with Amex exploring “hundreds of AI use cases” in the past few years, Chairman and CEO Steve Squeri wrote last week in the company’s annual letter to shareholders.
“Advancements in AI are creating a structural shift in the way colleagues work and how businesses operate, compete, and create value – and we are embracing it,” Squeri wrote.
Amex travel advisors in 19 countries use AI tools for “faster, high-quality travel recommendations and insights,” Squeri said in the Wednesday missive.
In technology, about 11,000 engineers use AI tools and have trimmed coding times by more than 30%, he said.
In sales, generative AI can “trigger real-time prospect leads, conduct pre-call research, dynamically reprioritize prospect lists based on call analysis, and automate post-call follow-ups,” Squeri said. Sales teams are also moving to a new AI-powered platform that “converts interactions and performance data into actionable insights,” he added.
Amex’s work to integrate AI tools is “a deliberate redesign of how we operate,” the CEO wrote.
Amex is poised to leverage AI gains because it has “rich data at the customer level,” Truist Securities analyst Brian Foran said Thursday in an email.
And as a card issuer and network, Amex stands to benefit from AI agents driving commerce, Foran said. “That has the potential to be even bigger” than internal AI efficiencies, he wrote.
In deploying AI tools for Amex’s customer service representatives, the company adopted a “learn as we go” approach with training and employee feedback, Amex’s head of global support, enablement & control, Anthony Devane, said in a September interview.
“There’s an element of fear factor on AI,” Devane said, adding that Amex’s adoption of AI tools isn’t aimed at “significantly reducing headcount.”
“We do see it as significantly giving us more tools to develop, and deeper relationships with our customers,” he said.
AI-fueled efficiency gains have led to widespread fears of job losses across the economy.
Last month, Block said it would cut about 4,000 employees, roughly 40% of its workforce, in an aggressive bet that AI will be able to replace many of those roles. This week, Meta Platforms notified several hundred employees their jobs would be cut as the company invests heavily to construct its AI capabilities.
