Mizuho Financial Group trials generative AI for development and maintenance

Japanese bank is working with Fujitsu to explore potential for using generative artificial intelligence technology in system development and maintenance

Karl Flinders,
Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Published: 20 Jun 2023 16:22

Mizuho Financial Group is running a nine-month trial of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology in its operations to improve the development and maintenance of its systems.

The trial, using generative AI technology from Fujitsu, begins this month and will run until the end of March next year.

“Recognising the promise of the technology, Mizuho is now exploring ways to incorporate AI in its operations to improve the quality and resilience of its systems during the development and maintenance phase,” said a company statement.

The project will see generative AI technology used in the development of Mizuho’s system to measure AI’s effectiveness in automatically detecting errors and omissions in system design plans and audit processes. Fujitsu and Mizuho also plan to apply generative AI to work processes and tasks, including the generation of source code, system development and maintenance.

Mizuho is on a mission to keep pace with changing tech demands and repair reputational damage that was caused by IT-related shortfalls at its banking arm, Mizuho Bank.

The company’s president was forced to resign in 2021 after a major IT glitch that followed a $3.6bn investment by Mizuho to overhaul its IT systems in 2019. He was followed out of the door by the CEO after regulators reprimanded the company for IT failures.

The company has since accepted it needed to change because customer demands had already done so.

Generative AI trials put the finance group at the forefront of enterprise IT. In a recent Accenture study of nearly 5,000 senior executives across the globe – part of its technology vision report, When atoms meet bits: The foundations of our new reality – 98% of senior executives said they believed AI would spark significant creativity and innovation, and 95% expected it to usher in a new era of enterprise intelligence.

To this end, Accenture has established a company-wide team, the Generative AI and Large Language Model (LLM) Center of Excellence. It has also published its A new era of generative AI for everyone study of generative AI/LLM, advising businesses on the use of the technology.