Citi buys into future of artificial intelligence -- literally

Citi Ventures has made an investment in the artificial intelligence software company Anaconda, which its parent company Citigroup knows very well. It turns out Citigroup has been using this popular open source software across its entire enterprise for a couple of years. Large banks like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, BBVA and Ally Bank are among the many with AI deployments. David B. Weiss, principal of the consulting firm Market Structure Metrics, said he has observed "an ever-growing, five-year trend of banks tactically trialing and deploying AI and related technologies like machine learning and robotic process automation to target multiple processes in various parts of their businesses." Jesse McWaters, financial innovation lead at the World Economic Forum, has also been seeing "a significant increase in investment in AI specialist companies" among banks.