News of Lloyds's AI recruitment drive comes as the group's chief executive prepares to unveil a strategic plan. News of Lloyds's AI recruitment drive comes as the group's chief executive prepares to unveil a strategic plan. Lloyds Banking Group has launched an AI recruitment drive for 300 tech experts, weeks before its chief executive, Charlie Nunn, unveils a strategic plan for the 261-year old lender. The bank said it intended the recruits to work on its use and development of agentic AI by September, referring to autonomous artificial intelligence models that can plan and execute tasks with minimal human oversight. While the hiring drive is will increase Lloyds' headcount for now, the group did not rule out its broad adoption of AI leading to job cuts in the future. Trystan Davies, group head of data and AI science, said: "AI will reshape how organisations are structured.

Silicon Valley's Elite Financial Advisers Say This Era of Wealth Is Different The rich are getting richer. Here's what wealth advisers are telling their tech clients right now. If anyone in tech has already started their Hot IPO Summer, it's Silicon Valley's elite wealth advisers. Two private wealth managers who work with high-net-worth techies told me they've seen an uptick in activity from their client base, some of whom are expecting a big liquidity event this year. We're talking, of course, about the employees and early investors at SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic who are coming into mind-boggling riches.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei speaks during the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in January. Electronics maker NEC said Thursday that major Japanese financial institutions, including Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, will participate in its strategic collaboration with U.S. startup Anthropic in the field of artificial intelligence. The partnership aims to improve the quality of financial services for customers using AI and to strengthen measures against cyberattacks. The other companies are Sumitomo Life Insurance, Daiwa Securities Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank and Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance. Using Anthropic's AI technology, the partners will work not only on developing new services but also on improving productivity by streamlining business processes at each company.

The success of agentic AI in financial services depends not just on smarter models, but on an authoritative context data store--one that is accessible, reliable, and governed at scale. Financial services companies have unique needs when it comes to business AI. They operate in one of the most highly regulated sectors while responding to external events that are updated by the second. As a result, the success of agentic AI in financial services depends less on the sophistication of the system and more on the quality, security, and accessibility of the data it relies on. "It all starts with the data," says Steve Mayzak, global managing director of Search AI at Elastic. Agentic AI--systems that can independently plan and take actions to complete tasks, rather than simply generate responses--holds enormous potential for financial services due to its ability to incorporate real-time data and optimize complex workflows.

As people increasingly rely on AI chatbots for guidance, even on financial matters, a healthy dose of skepticism is critical. I've used ChatGPT to help me build a budget before, and it was genuinely helpful. After I input my monthly salary as well as my standard utilities and recurring expenses, the chatbot drafted a few solid options, and I tweaked them into penny-pinching perfection. "Millions of people turn to ChatGPT with money-related questions, from understanding debt to building budgets and learning financial concepts," says Niko Felix, an OpenAI spokesperson, when reached for comment. "ChatGPT can be a helpful tool for exploring options, preparing questions, and making financial topics easier to understand, but it is not a substitute for licensed financial professionals." OpenAI's Terms of Use state that the AI tool is not meant to replace professional financial advice.

What He's Doing Now Boggles the Mind. My partner, a 36-year-old man, is being let go from his job. He was informed that his company would be cutting him and his entire department. The only person staying is his boss, who will be overseeing the new AI customer service client they are replacing the real life people with. But that's not what this is about, even if AI is going to be the death of humanity.

Roughly five years ago, Ant Group reined in its ambitions after a derailed initial public offering. Today, the Jack Ma-backed company is betting on a very different business to fuel its next phase of growth: health care powered by artificial intelligence. What began as a digital payments platform has become one of China's biggest investors in medical AI, backing software that fields patient questions and connects them with doctors, pharmacies and insurers. In November, Ant elevated its health unit to the same level as operations including Alipay and its lending businesses, underscoring how central the effort has become to the company's strategy. After years focused on consumer lending, wealth management and insurance technology, health care is now where executives believe AI can unlock the next wave of growth, leveraging Ant's massive user base to become its biggest business outside of payments.