With ia.i, a conversational interface, and the IARA governance platform, Itaú is applying its AI First strategy to customers and employees — in one of Brazil’s most regulated sectors.
ia.i reached approximately 300,000 customers in its first phase, with a goal of covering the full customer base by the end of 2026. A legal AI solution on IARA operates on more than 90 million documents and more than 2 million tasks per month, with efficiency gains of 20% to 80% in some processes.
The challenge is to make the technology disappear
Creating a close, personalized experience for millions of customers in a country like Brazil is, first and foremost, a question of simplicity rather than of models.
“Much of it is about making something simple, direct, and useful, delivering a direct benefit to the customer, and making the technology almost unnoticeable,” says Carlos Eduardo Mazzei, CTO of Itaú.
The standard he describes is demanding: the solution must solve a real everyday problem and be direct, simple, and memorable. Technology serves as the means, never as the centerpiece of the experience.
There is demand for this. A study by Itaú in partnership with Grupo Consumoteca shows that 80% of Brazilians want to better organize their financial lives and seek more effective support for decisions, and that 65% would like technologies that act as a financial copilot, providing ongoing guidance.
“OpenAI’s models were very important in delivering this experience, because they were able to operate across this range of solutions.”
—Carlos Eduardo Mazzei, CTO, Itaú
ia.i: from convenience to advice, in one place
The journey began in 2024, when the bank introduced the first Inteligência Itaú capabilities for specific financial needs. ia.i is the next stage: a complete conversational layer, activated by text or voice, bringing interactions related to checking accounts, credit, cards, insurance, and other services into one environment — and connecting customers to specialized human support whenever needed.
This breadth was precisely what guided the choice of models.
“OpenAI’s models were very important in delivering this experience, because they were able to operate across this range of solutions,” Mazzei explains. “From the simplest ones, which need to be efficient in cost and latency, to more complex solutions, where reasoning and all the necessary grounding are required to provide an appropriate answer.”
Having a range of models — rather than a single model — made it possible to deliver the complete solution in one product. At the center of this experience is Customer DNA, a layer of financial context that helps the bank understand the needs, habits, and life stages of approximately 70 million customers. Under governance and responsible AI controls, GPT models are among the components that help maintain and enrich this representation, making interactions progressively more relevant.
The solution rests on three principles: interactivity, multimodality — text, voice, image, and clicks in the same experience — and individualization.
With approximately 300,000 customers in the first phase, the bank entered a period of learning about the real relationship between customer and product.
“We can understand how customers begin to use this product more deeply and see how it can directly benefit each person’s daily financial life,” says Mazzei. Its presence extends across the journey: from a question about an expense in an account statement to investment advice and convenient transactions on WhatsApp.
“The financial world often has products that are not so straightforward and need this context, this simpler relationship with money.”
—Carlos Eduardo Mazzei, CTO, Itaú
IARA: the layer that makes scale possible
Behind the visible experiences is an architectural decision. To operate AI at the scale of a bank, Itaú built IARA — a governance and orchestration platform that gives teams controlled access to different models in line with internal policies. OpenAI is among the model providers available in this environment.
This layer supports solutions such as the legal department’s, where the platform automates document reading, analysis, and interpretation. The solution operates on a repository of more than 90 million documents and executes more than 2 million tasks per month, with efficiency gains of 20% to 80% in stages of the department’s processes.
“It is essential that this information be preserved, remain within the bank’s context, and access models in a secure, governed way, with an understanding of token-use efficiency so that the entire solution is economically viable for the bank,” Mazzei says.
IARA addresses three problems at once: cost control per token, accuracy of responses, and application of responsible AI policies. In such a regulated sector, this makes it possible to move quickly while maintaining control.
“When we talk about Responsible AI at the bank, it is a discipline we take great care with,” he says. “We need customers to interact with the bank and our responses to align with our values and culture.” This includes reducing any risk of bias that may arise in frontier models.
Responsible AI principles guide the entire lifecycle of solutions, from development to continuous monitoring, aiming to ensure safety, transparency, ethics, and regulatory compliance as the technology scales.
“IARA is a fundamental platform, because it ensures we can have governance and observability in a highly regulated environment.”
—Carlos Eduardo Mazzei, CTO, Itaú
AI First on the inside, too
The bank’s AI First strategy extends beyond end customers. The same intelligence layer that supports ia.i also assists specialists, managers, and customer service teams.
Mazzei describes a range extending from automating simple tasks to performing work that was previously unfeasible — but adds value to customer relationships: summaries before meetings, meeting preparation, understanding a specific issue, and developing plans and alternatives that were previously less obvious and time-consuming.
The bank has significant expectations for this implementation: three times more time available for customer relationships, service up to twice as fast, and conversations up to three times more effective.
“This set of tools in the hands of relationship managers allows us to focus on what matters most: creating value for our customers.”
—Carlos Eduardo Mazzei, CTO, Itaú
Results overview
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ia.i reached approximately 300,000 customers in its first phase, covering everything from convenient transactions to investment advice, activated by text or voice.
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The IARA platform makes different models available to the bank’s teams with governance, observability, cost control per token, and enforcement of Responsible AI.
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The legal solution operates on more than 90 million documents and executes more than 2 million tasks per month, with efficiency gains of 20% to 80%.
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Using a range of models made it possible to serve both cost- and latency-sensitive cases and those requiring deeper reasoning; GPT‑5.x models are part of Customer DNA, which provides financial context for approximately 70 million customers.
Lessons for leaders
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Measure the experience by its simplicity, rather than sophistication. The goal is for the technology to go unnoticed and the benefit to be apparent.
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Choose a range of models, rather than a single one. Real journeys combine low-latency interactions with decisions that require reasoning.
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Build the governance layer before scaling. Observability, cost control, and responsible AI make scale viable in regulated sectors.
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Treat bias and cultural alignment as product requirements. Responses to customers must reflect the institution’s values.
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Apply the strategy internally, too. Giving time back to teams frees up human relationships where they matter most.
Tips
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Start with concrete everyday problems, such as a question about an account statement or a simple transaction.
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Launch to an initial customer group and use it to learn actual behavior before expanding.
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Centralize model access on one platform to maintain control over costs and quality.
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Monitor token efficiency from day one — economic viability is part of the design.
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Combine conversation and navigation: not every action is best handled through natural language.
Next steps
ia.i continues to evolve. The bank expects to make the experience available to its entire customer base by the end of 2026. Planned capabilities for the next stages include product simulations and sign-ups, as well as recurring financial analyses of income, expenses, and habits.
For Mazzei, the significance of the initiative goes beyond the product — the bank has navigated decades of transformation, with customers’ habits and expectations constantly changing.
“Leading the AI era is about responding faster to our customers’ needs. It is about understanding how technology can add value and help customers engage with financial products and services in a much simpler, more direct way that helps them achieve what they are seeking.”
—Carlos Eduardo Mazzei, CTO, Itaú