A Morgan Stanley digital sign 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 He promoted a technology executive in his wealth management division to become the bank's first head of company-wide artificial intelligence, CNBC has learned.
The bank is promoting Jeff McMillan, a veteran of the New York-based bank, to help guide its implementation of artificial intelligence across the company, according to a memo sent Thursday from 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.
The move demonstrates the growing importance of AI in financial services, sparked by the rapid rise of generative AI tools that create human-like responses to queries.
While Wall Street firms cut jobs on a massive scale last year, they competed to fill thousands of artificial intelligence jobs and moved employees away from each other.
In June, JPMorgan appointed Theresa Heisenreuther as director of data and analytics responsible for AI adoption. in Goldman SachsMarco Argenti, chief information officer, is seen as the main advocate for artificial intelligence.
Read the full Morgan Stanley memo announcing McMillan's new role:
We're pleased to announce that Jeff MacMillan has taken on a new role as Head of Company-wide AI, where he co-reports to us.
Jeff previously led the Wealth Management Analytics, Data and Innovation organization where he played a key role in driving the technology evolution of wealth management, from our state-of-the-art wealth management platform to our recent pioneering work with our exclusive partner, OpenAI.
In his new role, Jeff will coordinate across the company to ensure we have the right AI strategy and governance. In doing so, he will engage with business units and infrastructure areas to identify and prioritize AI opportunities; Help position the company within the flow of AI development across the industry and ensure Morgan Stanley continues to be a highly respected innovator in AI.
To execute our AI strategy, Jeff will work closely with Mike Pizzi, Head of U.S. Banking and Technology, Sid Visentini, Head of Corporate Strategy and Katie Huberty, Head of Global Equity Research. Katie and Jeff will co-chair the Firmwide AI Steering Group, which consists of representatives from the business unit and infrastructure.
Please join us in congratulating Jeff on his new role.
