Caroline Casey, general manager, customer experience and innovation, at Moody’s Analytics, discusses how the company is utilising generative AI technology.

It’s rare to see such justified excitement around a technology. Generative AI (GenAI)’s ability to create new content in text, images, or audio has made it a priority for business leaders. What sets GenAI's systems apart are user-friendly interfaces that enable individuals to experiment and optimise their workflows.

GenAI is anticipated to have a significant economic impact across all industries. Traditional business models are already being challenged, with everything from customer engagement, sales and marketing, and decision making, to product design and software engineering set to be enhanced with the infusion of AI.

This is no longer a futuristic concept, but a present-day reality – we’re seeing GenAI implemented across a host of business operations, including market and investment research, customer onboarding, regulatory reporting and customer support.

Leading from the front

Moody's is a global integrated risk assessment firm and GenAI is already improving the way we meet customers' needs to help them make better decisions. GenAI streamlines processes such as data extraction, summarisation and report creation, allowing users to focus on analysis and review. Recent advances in GenAI mark a turning point – an opportunity to integrate this user-friendly technology with our extensive proprietary data to supercharge our solutions and address risk like never before.

However, just as crucial as the technology is the culture within which it operates. To achieve the full benefits, it is vital for organisations to encourage creativity and curiosity. Moody’s CEO Rob Fauber leads our GenAI initiative from the front, promoting innovation and setting ambitious goals across the company.  

That’s why we have given all 14,000 Moody's employees access to GenAI, so "everyone is an innovator" - and those who know their business areas best have the tools to unlock the technology's power.

Safe environment for innovation

We've created a safe environment for employees to experiment with GenAI, integrating it into their workflows and providing bespoke training for all levels. This training provides three knowledge tracks, ranging from resources for beginners to resources for those with expertise.

This approach has sparked a wave of innovation, with over 400 use case proposals across the business. Through our company-wide ideation submission process and Moody’s CoPilot - our core GenAI platform built in cooperation with Microsoft - teams can act on these ideas independently. 

We have appointed a centralised board to track use cases and maintain transparency. Regular forums and our company-wide ExpoAI showcase events promote collaboration and ensure that learning is shared. And we have established a governance council to navigate the ethical, legal, and business challenges associated with GenAI.

Better decisions, faster

GenAI brings efficiency and opportunities to create new solutions. One of our first is Moody’s Research Assistant. This uses GenAI to combine the power of large language models with Moody’s Investor Service content to provide a multifaceted view of risk. We have already placed Research Assistant in the hands of the first customers and are gathering feedback and refining it.

Moody’s is using GenAI to develop powerful tools that will enable employees and customers to get unparalleled views of risk, to make better decisions, faster. But this exciting technology will have applications in all sectors. The biggest benefits are likely to go to those companies that move fast, support innovation, and keep an open mind about the possibilities.

GenAI is a giant leap forward. Combined with a clearly defined strategy and a talented workforce it can help communicators, businesses and their customers to unlock opportunities, get ahead, and thrive.