American Express

How they deploy

Deployment model

American Express runs AI as a central technology capability with use cases in each business. The Technology organization under CIO Ravi Radhakrishnan builds and runs the enterprise AI enablement layer, the coding tools and the data platforms. Third-party profiles place an Enterprise Data & AI group, combining data governance and AI engineering, under Hilary Packer. The businesses own their use cases. Servicing uses Travel Counselor Assist and a servicing portal for Card Member representatives, marketing uses AI agents for campaigns, and Global Commercial Services uses generative AI in sales. Global Merchant and Network Services, under Anna Marrs, also oversees the credit and fraud risk organization whose models score transactions (Oct 2026). A Generative AI Council of senior leaders from model building, technology, servicing and legal has prioritized use cases since 2023.

Model providers

American Express uses third-party models and has said it does not plan to build its own large language model (May 2024). Hilary Packer said in Apr 2025 that American Express uses open and closed-source models, swapped by use case. Packer said the internal IT chatbot had moved from the open-source BERT model to closed-source generative AI. Stephen Squeri said on Oct 23, 2026 that American Express built its proprietary dining and hotel conversational experiences on OpenAI models and is deepening its OpenAI partnership. About 9,000 American Express engineers used GitHub Copilot in Apr 2025. The Mar 2026 letter says American Express is scaling agentic coding tools, without naming them.

Data and infrastructure

American Express runs its own data centers and mainframes alongside cloud services, according to a Jul 2026 Goldman Sachs notice describing the infrastructure a former American Express technology executive ran. Stephen Squeri said on Jan 30, 2026 that a third-generation data and analytics platform, on the cloud, would roll out organization by organization through 2027. Squeri said the platform would support personalization, servicing, fraud and generative and agentic AI. Alphabet said in Apr 2026 that American Express is moving that enterprise data platform and hundreds of production applications to Google Cloud BigQuery. American Express has not said where its generative AI models run. American Express kept customer data out of its early generative AI pilots (May 2024) and tests tools in sandboxes with redacted customer data before deployment.

Leadership

AI, data and platform leaders

AI org map

Central technology, data and AI capability under the CIO; use cases owned by the business lines

American Express places its AI platforms in the Technology organization under CIO Ravi Radhakrishnan, an executive officer since Jan 2022, and third-party profiles place an Enterprise Data & AI group under Hilary Packer inside it. American Express has no chief AI officer among its executive officers (Feb 2026). The Board's Risk Committee oversees the use of AI under an Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Policy, and a Generative AI Council of senior leaders has prioritized use cases since 2023.

American Express does not publish an AI or machine learning headcount. American Express said in May 2024 that several thousand of its roughly 10,000 technology employees worked on generative AI in some capacity and that it had hired a few hundred more. The Mar 2026 letter counts more than 11,000 engineering professionals using AI-assisted development tools. American Express had about 76,800 employees at the end of 2025.

Use cases

American Express says it has explored hundreds of AI use cases, and its Mar 2026 shareholder letter names work in customer service, marketing, technology, credit and fraud, and commercial sales. American Express has published a return it credits to AI for one use case. Stephen Squeri said in Jul 2026 that AI coding tools cut coding cycle time 30% to 40%, and American Express puts that capacity into more projects rather than counting it as savings. American Express gives no figure for its servicing, travel, marketing, fraud or sales tools and has reported no firm-level AI return. American Express framed the Oct 2026 cut of about 5% of positions as preparing for AI.

Adoption

American Express spread AI in layers, starting with machine learning in credit and fraud in 2010. A Generative AI Council and the first generative AI pilots followed in 2023, then tools for travel counselors and engineers in 2024 and 2025, and generative AI tools for nearly all colleagues by Jan 2026. American Express's published counts cover single functions: about 5,000 travel counselors in 19 markets and about 9,000 engineers on GitHub Copilot in Apr 2025, and more than 11,000 engineering professionals on AI-assisted development tools in Mar 2026. Stephen Squeri's Mar 2026 letter says colleagues show strong engagement and widespread daily use, but American Express has not said how many of its 76,800 employees use AI tools each week.

By the numbers

Economics & controls

Recent signals

1. Oct 23, 2026

   American Express took a $336 million restructuring charge to eliminate about 5% of positions. Stephen Squeri set out 5 areas where American Express applies AI for customers and said it had launched its first conversational AI voice agents. Squeri said outside agents may reach its systems only through approved API or Model Context Protocol channels.

   Q3 2026 earnings call transcript

2. Oct 23, 2026

   CFO Christophe Le Caillec told CNBC that the restructuring would make American Express leaner and more agile and prepare it for AI, so that it can automate processes once they are restructured.

   HR Reporter, citing CNBC

3. Oct 13, 2026

   American Express published its Intent Intelligence framework, which records a Card Member's authenticated purchase intent before an AI agent buys. Hannah Bozian said the American Express network sees thousands of agentic transactions a week.

   Digital Transactions

4. Oct 1, 2026

   Perplexity launched AI Skills such as cash flow forecasting and tax preparation for U.S. American Express Business Card Members.

   Unite.AI

5. Oct 1, 2026

   American Banker reported that Anna Marrs helps lead American Express's adoption of AI and generative AI and that the company uses AI agents in parts of credit underwriting, fraud detection and customer service.

   American Banker

6. Aug 10, 2026

   Resy, owned by American Express, launched restaurant availability and booking inside ChatGPT for U.S. restaurants.

   Resy

7. Jul 24, 2026

   Stephen Squeri said AI cut coding cycle time 30% to 40% at American Express, that servicing headcount has stayed flat as the business grew, and that a new AI servicing portal will cut representatives' handle time.

   Q2 2026 earnings call transcript

8. Apr 27, 2026

   American Express connected Resy to Anthropic's Claude so diners can check live availability and book a table in a conversation.

   Verdict Foodservice

9. Apr 23, 2026

   Stephen Squeri said American Express sees about a 30% benefit from AI for its programmers in coding and testing, and that on agentic commerce the company is not even in the first inning.

   The National CIO Review

10. Apr 16, 2026

    American Express agreed to buy Hypercard, whose AI agents categorize corporate expenses and check them against policy, for its 2026 expense management platform.

    American Banker

11. Apr 14, 2026

    American Express published the ACE Developer Kit for agentic commerce and Amex Agent Purchase Protection, which covers Card Members for errors by registered AI agents.

    American Express via Nasdaq

12. Mar 25, 2026

    Stephen Squeri's shareholder letter set out American Express's agentic commerce priorities and reported AI tools for nearly all colleagues, after a Citrini Research report on AI job losses had hit the stock in Feb 2026.

    Bloomberg Línea

13. Mar 25, 2026

    American Express launched the Graphite Business Cash card and announced AI tools for business customers, including an Insights Agent, an AI expense app and a $300 ChatGPT Business credit.

    American Banker

14. Jan 30, 2026

    Stephen Squeri said American Express spends $5 billion a year on technology, is rolling out a third-generation data platform on the cloud, and has built an enterprise AI enablement layer.

    Q4 2025 earnings call transcript

Quick answers

How does American Express deploy AI?

American Express deploys AI through an enterprise AI enablement layer it built for generative and agentic tools. American Express says nearly all of its 76,800 colleagues have generative AI tools, and more than 11,000 engineers use AI coding assistants. Stephen Squeri said in Jul 2026 that AI cut coding cycle time 30% to 40%, and American Express puts that capacity into more projects rather than counting it as savings. For customers, American Express is building agentic commerce, including the ACE Developer Kit and Resy bookings inside ChatGPT and Claude.

What does American Express use AI for?

American Express says it has explored hundreds of AI use cases, and its Mar 2026 shareholder letter names work in customer service, marketing, technology, credit and fraud, and commercial sales. American Express has published a return it credits to AI for one use case. Stephen Squeri said in Jul 2026 that AI coding tools cut coding cycle time 30% to 40%, and American Express puts that capacity into more projects rather than counting it as savings. American Express gives no figure for its servicing, travel, marketing, fraud or sales tools and has reported no firm-level AI return. American Express framed the Oct 2026 cut of about 5% of positions as preparing for AI.

Who leads AI at American Express?

AI at American Express is led by Ravi Radhakrishnan (Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer); Hilary Packer (Executive Vice President, Enterprise Data & AI); Berta Rodriguez-Hervas (Senior Vice President of AI). Ownership of AI on the org chart: CIO Ravi Radhakrishnan; Enterprise Data & AI under Hilary Packer (title unconfirmed).

What AI platform does American Express use?

American Express built an enterprise AI enablement layer, with shared starter code, model orchestration and an AI firewall, to launch generative and agentic tools such as Travel Counselor Assist and Dining Companion (Jan 2026).

Which AI models does American Express use?

American Express uses open and closed-source models that its orchestration layer can swap by use case (Apr 2025), OpenAI models in its dining and hotel conversational experiences (Oct 2026), and GitHub Copilot for engineers.

How many Amex employees use AI?

American Express says it has deployed generative AI tools to nearly all colleagues worldwide (Jan 2026) but gives no usage count. More than 11,000 American Express engineers use AI-assisted development tools (Mar 2026), and 5,000 travel counselors use Travel Counselor Assist.

What return has American Express reported from AI?

American Express has reported one business return it credits to AI in the last 18 months, which places it in Piloting. Stephen Squeri said on Jul 24, 2026 that AI cut coding cycle time 30% to 40% and that American Express uses the capacity to work through more of its technology backlog. The Mar 2026 shareholder letter had put the cut at over 30% for more than 11,000 engineering professionals. Squeri said the coding gain is not a savings, and that the number of servicing representatives has stayed flat as the business grew, without giving a figure. CFO Christophe Le Caillec framed the Oct 2026 cut of about 5% of positions as preparing for AI rather than as work AI already does. On rollout, American Express says generative AI tools reach nearly all colleagues worldwide (Jan 2026) but has published no count of employees who use them. American Express falls short of Scaling because its one return sits in technology alone and it reports no firm-level AI figure.

Open questions

• How many of American Express's 76,800 employees use its generative AI tools each week, given that the company reports access for nearly all colleagues but no usage count?
• Who owns AI at American Express below the CIO, given that the company has not announced Hilary Packer's move from CTO to Enterprise Data & AI or Berta Rodriguez-Hervas's appointment, and who is CTO now?
• What does American Express spend on AI, including model and token costs, inside its $5 billion technology budget?
• Which models and clouds run American Express's generative AI, beyond OpenAI models in its dining and hotel experiences and GitHub Copilot, and does any model run in its own data centers?
• Which roles does the Oct 2026 cut of about 5% of positions remove, what saving does American Express expect from it, and how much of the later automation will be AI?
• What do Travel Counselor Assist, the card servicing portal, the voice agents and the marketing agents return in cost or headcount, given that Stephen Squeri said servicing headcount has stayed flat without giving a figure?
• Has AI changed American Express's fraud losses or credit performance in a way the company can measure, given that it credits its models without a figure?
• How many agentic transactions run on the American Express network, and what has Amex Agent Purchase Protection cost so far?
• How large is the cost saving in Card Member marketing that Stephen Squeri tied to the new data platform in Jan 2026?

Sources