• Innovation & technology

"At BNP Paribas, Artificial Intelligence has entered a new dimension!"

Published On 2024-10-15 - Updated On 2026-07-09

BNP Paribas is accelerating the integration of artificial intelligence across its operations. The Group aims to generate €750 million in value by the end of 2026, driven by new revenue streams, efficiency gains and enhanced risk management. This momentum builds on a long-standing commitment that began in 2015 and is now accelerating significantly. Hugues Even, Chief Data Officer at BNP Paribas, looks back on the Group’s progress and discusses the key challenges involved in deploying AI at scale in a responsible and sustainable manner.

How far has artificial intelligence progressed at BNP Paribas?

Our approach is not new: we have been steadily developing our capabilities for almost a decade. We began exploring AI systems as early as 2015 with initial use cases such as chatbots and the optimisation of customer engagement opportunities. More recently, generative AI has led to the emergence of a new category of use cases, particularly in the areas of interaction, content generation and the automation of complex tasks. Building on this momentum, we have also started exploring so-called agentic approaches, which enable the autonomous orchestration of more complex, multi-step tasks.

We have therefore significantly scaled up our efforts, and today AI and generative AI are widely embedded across our businesses and functions, supporting highly practical applications. AI is helping us to better understand our customers, enhance their experience, improve our operational efficiency and strengthen risk management, particularly in the areas of fraud prevention and cybersecurity.

Our strategy is clearly focused on delivering measurable business outcomes. We aim to generate €750 million in value by the end of 2026, notably through productivity gains, and our current results confirm that we are on track to achieve this objective.

Beyond performance, we place responsible AI at the heart of our approach. We use AI in line with social, environmental and ethical requirements, while developing reliable, secure solutions that meet the expectations of our stakeholders. Every solution must remain aligned with its business purpose, the regulatory framework (including the EU AI Act and the GDPR), and our values. This means ensuring reliability, managing risks such as bias and hallucinations, maintaining appropriate levels of human oversight, and guaranteeing traceability.

Which key skills do you believe need to be developed, and how can we support our employees throughout this transformation?

To ensure the long-term success of this transformation, it is essential to develop internal AI capabilities. At BNP Paribas, we can currently rely on a community of 3,000 data specialists and around 800 AI specialists working across our businesses and functions, and we continue to recruit experts to strengthen our technical capabilities.At the same time, this transformation requires enhanced support for employees, both in terms of awareness and the development of new skills, in order to ensure the successful adoption of tools such as My Companion (our AI assistant currently being rolled out) and maximise the value they deliver.

In this context, the Group has, for several years, been pursuing a structured approach to awareness-building, workforce planning and upskilling around data and artificial intelligence. The aim is to anticipate changes in roles and support employees affected by these transformations. Several key initiatives have been implemented, most notably the Tech Academy, sponsored by the Group Data Office, Group IT and Group Human Resources.

The Tech Academy seeks to train a growing number of employees in the fundamentals of AI, while also developing more advanced expertise for those directly involved in the design, deployment and oversight of AI systems, particularly in the areas of governance, risk management, data quality, data management and user adoption. In 2025, nearly 80,000 employees received training on AI-related topics. Among the most popular courses is the Introduction to GenAI module, which has been completed by more than 30,000 employees since its launch. In addition, a new mandatory training module, Data Journey, will be rolled out from July 2026. It is designed to provide all employees with a practical understanding of the key issues related to data, including its direct impact on AI applications.

Alongside training, several awareness and engagement events are open to all employees, such as Data Week (the Group’s annual event dedicated to data and AI) and the AI Summer School (an annual event bringing together nearly 5,000 employees). The themes highlighted each year — responsible AI last year and agentic AI this year — directly reflect our strategic priorities and help accelerate awareness while showcasing internal initiatives.

"The development of responsible and ethical AI and its use in the service of sustainable finance is a priority."

Hugues Even

Group Chief Data Officer

What are your next objectives and major priorities in the field of AI, and how do you intend to deepen the integration of AI into operational processes?

AI will be at the heart of our 2030 strategic plan, positioned as a key and sustainable driver of transformation and performance for the Group. Accelerating the integration of AI across our businesses and functions means moving beyond isolated use cases towards true industrialisation. This requires, in particular:
  • Leveraging shared platforms such as our LLM-as-a-Service platform, which enables the secure and controlled deployment of generative AI capabilities across the Group;
  • Strengthening our common data foundations to ensure the quality and consistency of the data used by AI systems; 
  • Developing reusable components to facilitate the scaling of use cases across all Group entities; 
  • And, more recently, exploring agentic approaches that can automate more complex, multi-step processes, opening up new opportunities for integrating AI into operations.

In this context, governance is a key enabler for prioritising and coordinating progress. At Group level, a dedicated governance framework has been established, comprising a central AI Committee and four intermediate committees covering the most critical dimensions: IT, risk, value creation and Human Resources.

To achieve our ambitious objectives, and alongside the continued development of our internal capabilities, we intend to further expand our collaboration with industry stakeholders in order to advance collectively and promote best practice.


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