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As BMO's chief AI and data officer since October 2024, Kristin Milchanowski is responsible for enterprise-wide AI, data, analytics, and robotics strategy, as well as strengthening the data governance, risk management, and operating foundations across the organization. Her goal is for AI to fundamentally change how the bank operates—from productivity to decision support to collaboration. To that end, she has put the task of changing the culture front and center.
During her first year, BMO launched "AI for All," an enterprise-wide upskilling initiative designed to build AI literacy and responsible usage among employees. "I'm probably most proud that we approached the culture shift by inclusion" she said. "We didn't skip anyone, and we've had nearly a 100% try-out rate. We wanted everyone to feel empowered and included and creative."
The AI for All initiative ties into one of Milchanowski guiding AI design principles, which is that "innovation without empathy is empty." When designing projects and initiatives, her team sits down with employees in different roles across the company to understand their day-to-day process and the needs of customers. "Empathy is incorporated into the design from the very start, and that helps with this massive cultural shift," she said.
Generally, she has prioritized embedding AI in areas directly tied to revenue growth, operational efficiency, and risk reduction, while reinforcing that innovation must be built on trust. Some of the tools that have come out of this process include the Lumi initiative, which is a chat bot that allows bankers to access policy and procedures, which speeds up their response times to clients. For BMO Capital Markets more specifically, Milchanowski's team rolled out Erqu in 2025, which adds a conversational layer on top of BMO's Equity Research knowledge base, and MORA, an automated end-to-end agent that automates due diligence for metals storage vendors.
She has also expanded BMO's innovation ecosystem through strategic partnerships, such as joining the FINOS open source initiative to shape the future of responsible AI in finance. Her involvement in the quantum arena is also notable. BMO joined the IBM Quantum Network, positioning the bank to explore emerging computational capabilities relevant to complex financial modeling and long-term competitive differentiation.
The bank also collaborated with the University of Thrace (DUTH) to push the boundaries of quantum game theory and launched a two-year PhD-level research partnership with DUTH. Quantum games extend game theory by introducing quantum entanglement, creating correlations between player strategies that classical games cannot achieve. This can lead to more dynamic and complex outcomes beyond the reach of traditional models. By leveraging quantum technologies, BMO is exploring applications in portfolio optimization, risk management and climate prediction to push the boundaries of innovation in financial services.
Looking ahead, she expects to focus on personalized banking, and the ability to adapt in real time to client needs. "AI needs to enable smarter insights, more relevant engagement, better financial guidance at a much quicker pace. We're integrating a lot of decision points for our bankers at their fingertips so that they can reach our clients."
There is also the major issue of infrastructure, the physical backbone behind scaling (e.g., the compute, the power, the data architecture). "That backbone is really how BMO scales responsibly in the future. It's a large priority of ours and we're taking the time to build those foundational components.
But for Milchanowski, so much of BMO's future success deploying AI comes back to culture. "A lot of my peers are struggling with scaling AI right now, and we're not. I attribute that to an intentional choice of paying attention to culture, of rolling out the AI training to everyone, and really leading innovation with empathy."
