The US bank now has nearly 1100 AI and ML patents and pending applications in its portfolio, with more than half having already been granted. In addition to AI, patents have been granted this year in information security, online and mobile banking, payments, data analytics, and augmented and virtual reality have all Overall, BofA holds nearly 7000 granted patents and pending patent applications, boosted by more than 7500 "inventors" and a $12 billion annual tech budget, of which $4 billion is being directed to new initiatives this year. AI’s use at BofA is most prominently on display in Erica, its virtual assistant used by more than 45 million customers. The technology is also used in data analytics for wealth management and the CashPro Chat service advisor for 40,000 corporate and commercial clients. Aditya Bhasin, CTIO, BofA, says: "As our pace of innovation accelerates, we’re continually listening to clients and building solutions to improve and simplify their experiences. Such has been the case with our approach to AI, machine learning, and related technology for many years - the use of which centers on the benefits to our clients and employees."