Morgan Stanley's digital board is seen at the company's headquarters in Times Square in New York, US, on Friday, January 12, 2016.
John Taggart | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Morgan Stanley CNBC has promoted a tech executive in its wealth management division to become the bank's first head of artificial intelligence for the entire bank, CNBC has learned.
The bank is encouraging Jeff McMillan, a veteran of the New York-based bank, to help guide the implementation of AI within the company, according to a memo sent Thursday by co-presidents Andy Saperstein and Dan Simkowitz.
Last year, Morgan Stanley became the first major Wall Street firm to create an employee solution based on OpenAI's GPT-4, a project overseen by McMillan.
This move shows the increasing importance of artificial intelligence in financial services, fueled by the rapid rise of generative AI tools that create human-like answers to questions.
As Wall Street firms largely cut jobs last year, they competed to fill thousands of AI positions, poaching workers from each other.
In June, JPMorgan appointed Teresa Heitsenrether as Chief Data and Analytics Officer, responsible for AI adoption. Bee Goldman SachsChief Information Officer Marco Argenti is seen as the leading proponent of AI.
Read the full memo from Morgan Stanley announcing McMillan's new role:
We are pleased to announce that Jeff McMillan has taken on a new role as head of Firmwide Artificial Intelligence, co-reporting to us.
Jeff previously led Wealth Management's Analytics, Data and Innovation organization, where he played a key role in driving Wealth Management's technology evolution, from our Modern Wealth Management platform to most recently our groundbreaking work with our exclusive partner OpenAI.
In his new role, Jeff will coordinate across the business to ensure we have the right AI strategy and management in place. In doing so, he will work with the business units and infrastructure areas to identify and prioritize AI opportunities; helping position the company within the wave of AI development across the industry and ensuring that Morgan Stanley remains a respected innovator in AI.
To execute our AI strategy, Jeff will work closely with Mike Pizzi, Head of US Banking and Technology, Sid Visentini, Head of Firm Strategy, and Katy Huberty, Head of Global Equity Research. Katy and Jeff will co-chair the Firmwide AI Steering Group, consisting of business unit and infrastructure representatives.
Please join us in congratulating Jeff on his new role.
