HAS Citi, Some of the people leading the Wall Street bank’s AI campaign aren’t part of a specialized technical team. They are colleagues a few offices away.
These employees are part of the bank’s AI Champions and Accelerators program, which started in early 2024 and now has around 4,000 people among its ranks. voluntary helpers in AI. At its most basic level, the program aims for designated “accelerators” to help colleagues in their business units harness and understand AI tools. The program’s approximately 25 to 30 “champions” help lead accelerators in their industry.
Citi’s program is one of many ways banks are rushing to adopt AI, offering engineers synthesis style course attract the best technological talents by promising a seat at powerful executive tables. To date, Citi’s AI tools are available in 84 countries to 182,000 employees. Adoption of company’s proprietary tools exceeds 70%, Citi CEO Jane Fraser told analysts during the bank’s earnings conference call last week.
And it’s clear that she has high expectations of all employees, including accelerators. In January noteshe told staff that she expected a “more disciplined and confident” workforce in 2026, and that AI would likely “reshape the way work gets done.”
Among the banks range of initiatives To encourage AI adoption, the accelerators and champions model is uniquely integrated into teams and based on peer-to-peer interactions, said Carey Ryan, one of the initiative’s leaders and chief of staff of the technology organization.
“A small core team would never be able to get to where we are now,” Ryan said.
Peer-to-peer approach
Citi technology leaders proposed this program while brainstorming how to involve a larger part of its population with AI, Ryan said. Her team originally planned to have just 2,500 accelerators, but they saw more interest than expected and still maintains a waiting list for the program.
While colleagues nominate champions for the role, anyone can volunteer to become an accelerator. The only requirement is to be excited about AI, Ryan said.
Josh Goldsmith is the AI Champion for Internal Audit, where he is also responsible for digital solutions and innovation. He has been with the program since its inception and said “demystifying AI” was one of his biggest accomplishments so far.
“It’s very different to hear a colleague explain how to take advantage of these tools, rather than having someone who is, say, a technologist I’m trying to push that,” he said. “To be able to see someone put it into action: ‘Hey, they can do it!’ I’m like them, I can do it too.'”
Ryan also said the peer-to-peer approach is part of what makes the initiative work, since a more general team couldn’t understand every aspect specific to the position. AI Use Cases through the bank. She added that accelerators have helped organize more than 100 Citi AI Days, where they hold demonstrations and answer questions.
The time commitment
The accelerators meet their cohorts twice a month to participate in demonstrations, discover new tools, follow trainingor talk about their recent work. Goldsmith supervises about 50 participants; Between attending their meetings and his own bi-monthly Champions meetings, he said he spends between three and five hours on the program each week, in addition to his regular work.
Program members can also participate in training on topics like agentic AI to earn visual “AI badges,” which they can include in their email signatures. There are no specific engagement metrics, however, and people can drop out of the program if it becomes too time-consuming.
“An accelerator might have five interactions, and maybe five small interactions,” Ryan said. “Another accelerator might have a very large interaction, where it would do something with hundreds of people.”
Among internal audit AI peer coaches, between 70% and 80% remained in the program, Goldsmith said. He added that, despite the overtime, his involvement gave him a broader perspective on AI within Citi and “a clear vision of what comes next.”
For Carey, there is a sort of symbiotic relationship between the program leaders, the participants and the rest of the bank. Accelerators will explain what they hear from their industries – where people are struggling, what they might need – as Citi continues to refine its approach to AI. They have, for example, helped Citi refine AI tools, suggesting improvements such as adding notifications and allowing employees to upload larger files.
“It’s an important channel for feedback,” she said.