The following article was originally published on LinkedIn. In addition to reading below, you can comment and share with others by clicking here.

Key Insights:

• Synchrony has been leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) for more than a decade for things like fraud detection, marketing optimization and process innovation – transforming both internal operations and customer experiences.
• Synchrony’s human-centered approach to generative AI prioritizes employee expertise while enhancing efficiency, ensuring AI complements rather than replaces human capabilities.
• Future-ready “agentic commerce” will revolutionize how customers shop, and brands interact, with AI-driven smart assistants handling pricing, availability, loyalty programs and payment options.
• Synchrony has invested more than $5 billion in tools such as machine learning and cutting-edge AI, to drive transformation at speed and scale.
• The Responsible AI Working Group helps ensure trust, accountability and transparency as Synchrony embraces emerging technologies like Generative AI and Agentic AI.

At Synchrony, artificial intelligence has been embedded in our business for more than a decade. From optimizing marketing and detecting fraud to streamlining processes that free up thousands of hours annually for our teams to create capacity for innovation, AI has long been a key piece of our technology strategy. Since our IPO, we’ve invested more than $5 billion in modern digital technology to drive speed and scale of operations – including significant investments in machine learning, and now new waves of AI innovation.

As AI evolves, our commitment to responsible innovation remains at the forefront. For years, our Responsible AI Working Group has ensured that our values anchor our approach, and that we can embrace each new breakthrough in AI with a foundation of trust and transparency. The arrival of Generative AI, and now Agentic AI, has marked a point of transformation. And we’re ready – not just to keep up, but to lead.

Putting People First: Our Human-Centered Approach to Generative AI

Generative AI is transforming workplaces, but for Synchrony, AI isn’t here to replace the expertise our colleagues bring. It’s here to empower them. Our human-in-the-loop approach keeps employees at the center of every decision. Gen AI handles routine tasks efficiently, but we know it can’t match the empathy, problem-solving and nuanced judgment that only people bring.

We encourage our teams to explore our approved Gen AI tools to accelerate certain manual tasks, with a goal of enabling our colleagues to focus on their most fulfilling work and the projects they’re most excited to tackle. With this comes a personal responsibility, and we ask each team member to remain “in the loop” with AI: to oversee and guide Gen AI outputs, ensuring accuracy, quality and brand alignment in how those outputs are used.

We’re already hearing from our teams that by embracing Gen AI as a partner, not a substitute, they feel confident exploring our tools and sharing best practices with one another – a key part of fostering our culture of innovation.

Agentic Commerce: Where AI Meets Loyalty and Trust

As we empower our workforce with Gen AI, we’re also acutely attuned to the next frontier for our customers and partners – Agentic AI. We believe Agentic AI will fuel a retail transformation on par with the rise of e-commerce more than 30 years ago.

Agentic commerce has the potential to fundamentally change how people discover and buy. Smart shopping assistants will act on behalf of people, completing purchases while accounting for factors like price, availability, loyalty signals and more.

In agentic commerce, visibility will be everything. For brands, showing up in those AI-powered decisions will require making products, financing options and loyalty programs easy for the AI to understand and act on. Those who will win will see payments as much more than just plumbing – but as a critical strategy that connects brands, customers and AI shoppers.

At Synchrony, we know this could be a once-in-a-generation opportunity to drive growth, loyalty and a new kind of customer experience. That’s why we’ve launched a team inside of our Incubation Lab to bring together our innovation, AI and business teams to build our roadmap and the technology foundations to drive our approach. We’re also working with partners across the ecosystem, like Visa and Mastercard, and tech partners like Google to set the standard for how the AI will handle financial transactions.

As the industry maps what the age of agentic commerce will look like, brands that lean in now will set the pace for innovation. Our Synchrony teams will help our partners lead the way – building on our strong foundation, grounded in our values and with a sharp eye towards the future.

FAQs

Q: What is Synchrony’s approach to Generative AI?

A: Synchrony employs a human-in-the-loop approach, ensuring employees remain central to decision-making while leveraging Generative AI tools to streamline tasks and enhance innovation.

Q: How has Synchrony invested in AI technologies?

A: Synchrony has spent over $5 billion on digital transformation, including investments in AI, machine learning and modern tools that drive operational efficiency, scale and innovation.

Q: What is Agentic AI, and how is it transforming commerce?

A: Agentic AI refers to AI systems acting on behalf of customers, such as AI shopping assistants making purchase decisions based on price, availability, loyalty signals and financing options. Synchrony is preparing brands to adapt to this new retail ecosystem.

Q: How is Synchrony ensuring responsible AI use?

A: Through the Responsible AI Working Group, Synchrony maintains strict principles of trust, transparency and accountability, ensuring AI is used ethically and responsibly in all applications.