The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is looking to embed artificial intelligence across its entire software development process via the expertise of a specialist engineering unit.
The strategy is being driven by CBA’s AI-powered engineering team, which launched in July and is now recruiting for expertise.
According to CBA’s chief information officer for technology, Brendan Hopper, the bank is looking to adopt AI tools and features “across the entire software delivery lifecycle”.
Speaking to iTnews, Hopper said: “The team is dedicated to unlocking engineering capability and creativity using emerging AI-assisted tools and features across the entire software delivery lifecycle.”
This, he explained, will span “planning and coding to testing and maintenance”.
“The growing team will rapidly test and evaluate cutting-edge AI tools, enabling engineers to streamline workflows and unlock new opportunities to innovate and build better, safer solutions,” he said.
Hopper added that the AI team “will keep [CBA’s] 10,000 engineers and tech specialists at the forefront of working with AI” to deliver more “personalised experiences”.
The AI division is led by CBA veteran Martha McKeen, who left her role at the bank as executive manager, CIO for technology delivery in November 2023.
However, returning eight months later, she now holds the title of executive manager, AI Powered Engineering.
Posting on LinkedIn, she said the bank is now looking for a “dedicated squad of engineers to rapidly explore and test new and emerging AI-assisted engineering tools and capabilities.”
Specific roles include principal engineer, senior software engineer and staff engineer.
The bank has been working towards amplifying its generative AI efforts with the emerging technology already embedded into a number of its customer-facing capabilities.
Having started experimenting in May 2023, the bank already had over 50 generative AI use cases by February last year.
Other projects that have come to fruition include the bank’s IT support chatbot, ChatIT, and a number of customer-facing AI-powered features.
“At CBA, rapid experimentation to accelerate technology adoption is a priority. For example, every quarter, the team will conduct real-world testing of new technology capabilities and features,” Hopper said.
“This allows us to assess the potential of these tools so we can unlock engineering capabilities faster than before, benefiting both our customers and our organisation.”