Citigroup is mandating that roughly 180,000 employees complete AI prompt-writing training, a move designed to make its workforce adept at using the bank's internal generative AI tools, as reported by American Banker. The initiative underscores a broader push across the financial industry to upskill its labor force for a new, AI-driven era of work.
Prompting like a pro: The bank's internal memo describes the shift as the "beginning of a new way of working," where AI can turn tasks that once took hours into work done in minutes. The training itself, identified by American Banker as 'Asking Smart Questions - Prompting like a Pro,' is adaptive and quick—over in about 10 minutes for experts and 30 for beginners. The goal, according to Citi's head of learning Peter Fox, is to teach the difference between "great prompting versus basic prompting to generate impactful results."
An AI arms race: Citi's push is part of a wider talent and technology contest in finance. The bank is already a top contender in the sector's AI talent grab, and its rivals are moving just as fast. JPMorgan has woven AI training into its new-hire onboarding since last year, while Wells Fargo has sent thousands of its employees to a Stanford AI program.
The technology is already reshaping careers. An Indeed report found generative AI has altered the jobs of more than a third of tech workers. While Citi says it wants to free up employees for more strategic work, the message is clear: getting good at AI is no longer optional. For those looking for a deeper dive into AI's role in finance, Citi itself published a practitioner's guide on how it views generative AI as the future "treasury operating system."
