July 22, 2026
Bank of America Upgrades Its AI Assistant to Summarise Client Calls in Real Time
Bank of America has added generative AI capabilities to EricaAssist, the employee-facing AI agent used by more than 18,000 of its customer service representatives, so that staff receive contextual guidance while a client call is still in progress. The bank says the upgraded tool returns that guidance in under three seconds.
The bank said the tool already reduces average call times by close to one minute per interaction. EricaAssist works alongside employees rather than replacing them, summarising why a client is calling, pulling together the relevant account information, and recommending next steps without the representative having to leave the conversation.
What the New Capabilities Do
Representatives can now use generative AI inside EricaAssist to produce call summaries and tailored recommendations based on two variables: the employee’s own role, and the client’s existing relationship with the bank. The bank said this happens without interrupting the flow of the call, so agents are not pausing to search internal systems while a customer waits.
Ashley Ross, Head of Consumer Client Experience and Business Transformation at Bank of America, described the tool as an example of the company’s “high tech, high touch” approach, and said combining human judgement with real-time AI guidance helps employees handle complex topics and serve clients more effectively.
The design follows a pattern that has become common across the contact centre software market, where vendors have moved away from fully autonomous bots for complex service work and towards assistive tools for human agents. The copilots performing best in 2026 tend to be grounded in real policy and CRM data, show their sources, and help agents finish the job rather than simply draft faster replies.
Human Oversight and Governance
Tom Ellis, Chief Information Officer and Head of Consumer Technology at Bank of America, said the technology helps teammates “deliver relevant insights in seconds” while operating with governance, transparency and accountability.
The bank stated that its responsible AI strategy requires human oversight and accountability for all outcomes, and that employees remain responsible for the guidance clients receive. It also said the AI operates within established governance and oversight, with the representative making the final call.
That emphasis lines up with what research has been saying about staffing. Gartner found that 54% of service leaders say generative AI helped them scale without cutting headcount, with only 11% reporting frontline reductions, which undercuts the argument that AI is replacing contact centre agents at any meaningful scale.
Technology Spending Behind the Tool
The bank spends $14 billion a year on technology, of which more than $4 billion goes to new initiatives, including AI. It named EricaAssist as one output of that spending, alongside its consumer-facing virtual assistant Erica, which has been running since 2018 and remains one of the most cited chatbot deployments in CX for its proactive alerts on spending changes, upcoming bills, duplicate charges and unusual activity.
Later this year, Bank of America plans to extend EricaAssist to additional servicing scenarios and further business lines, though the bank did not name which lines or give a date.
