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TD Bank Group didn't create its predictive AI model "to do everything out of the box," as one tech executive at the bank put it. Rather, the bank narrowly tailored TD AI Prism to meet its needs.
TD AI Prism is what's known as an AI foundation model, a super-charged AI tool that's trained using mounds of data to perform an array of tasks, from generating text to conducting research.
Axel Smith Schon, TD's associate vice president for AI products including TD AI Prism, explained that the bank built and finetuned the tool to crunch, validate and responsibly handle TD's internal data. To construct TD AI Prism, the bank consolidated dozens of AI models into a single predictive foundation model that bolstered data security. Prism, built entirely in-house, has generated more than 40 new patent filings for the bank.
"The result is a foundation model that is not just more flexible, but better suited to delivering accurate, reliable and reusable predictions," Smith Schon said.
TD relies on the tool, which launched in 2025, to predict customers' needs and personalize banking products and services. "We're able to develop a far broader and more nuanced view of their financial behavior over time so it can better predict which [products and] services they may require going forward," Smith Schon said.
TD AI Prism also empowers smarter business decisions and speeds up product and service innovations.
Smith Schon said one of the strengths of TD AI Prism is its ability to process 100 times more data signals than traditional predictive AI models can. Data signals uncover information within data that helps AI reveal patterns, deliver predictions or improve decisions.
Typical AI models take a real-time snapshot of a customer's profile, balances and banking preferences to generate predictions, he said. By contrast, Smith Schon said, TD AI Prism draws on customers' financial behavior and transactions over a period of time to develop "a multidimensional view" of a customer and deliver robust insights.
TD AI Prism has helped personalize credit offers and identify customers who might be shopping for a mortgage, he said.
"We're seeing greater adoption of banking-related products from our clients who interact with targeted campaigns," he said. "Our clients are also getting a better and more human experience because they're receiving marketing materials that are relevant to them based on their current and past snapshots. We can pitch them on the right product at the right time, or no product at all."
TD AI Prism generates more accurate predictions compared with traditional predictive models, leading to a 20% to 30% improvement in pinpointing what customers need and don't need, Smith Schon said.
"This combination—more accurately reaching clients who are likely to benefit from our marketing offers, while reducing outreach to those who aren't—results in a more relevant, simple and personalized experience," he said.
