State Street Embraces Artificial Intelligence

State Street Corp., founded in 1792, and artificial intelligence haven't often been mentioned in the same sentence -- until now. The bank on Wednesday unveiled Quantextual Idea Lab, which uses machine learning and natural language processing to help clients better organize and extract information from their reams of research. The web platform is the latest piece of State Street's digital transformation, an effort to make the custody bank into a company that can compete in an era of heightened competition from technology-savvy rivals. Quantextual is part of Project Beacon, a five-year plan aimed at cutting costs, speeding up services, and most ambitiously, turning State Street from a bank that tracks data into one that converts information into insights customers value. "Anyone who doesn't do things faster and better will find himself in a world of hurt," said Jay Hooley, the Boston-based bank's chief executive officer. State Street's technology obsession is hardly unique in finance.