Lloyds Banking Group has launched an innovative AI knowledge hub designed to significantly enhance the efficiency of customer-facing employees by streamlining their query response capabilities.
The Athena hub, the bank’s inaugural generative AI initiative, serves as a comprehensive resource for staff, enabling them to access a vast repository of information. This platform can quickly scan through 13,000 internal articles, providing vital assistance on a wide array of customer inquiries. Remarkably, it has reduced the average search time from 59 seconds to just 20 seconds—a notable 66% improvement.
Lloyds estimates that this advancement will save its telephone banking teams approximately 4,000 hours in search time, directly benefiting both employees and customers by minimizing wait times. Since its inception in early 2025, the Athena hub has been utilized by 21,000 employees, resulting in over 2.1 million searches. By year-end, the organization plans to expand access to Athena for additional customer support roles, targeting an impressive 40 million searches.
Ranil Boteju, the Group’s Chief Data and Analytics Officer, commented, “Athena represents a significant advancement in our digital transformation, leveraging generative AI to enhance operational efficiency and improve customer experiences. This isn’t merely an upgrade; it’s a revolutionary step forward.”
He added, “By providing our colleagues with immediate access to essential information, we are freeing up thousands of hours to focus on addressing more complex and personalized customer needs. We are paving the way for the future of work.”
Earlier this year, Lloyds also announced the development of a new machine learning and generative AI platform using Google Cloud’s Vertex AI, forecasting substantial revenue growth and productivity gains of at least £50 million by 2025.