Séries históricas Itaú Unibanco launches ia.i, a new conversational experience that will bring generative AI to all the bank’s products and services
ia.i is the result of Itaú’s AI First strategy and allows customers to interact with the bank in natural language to ask questions, make decisions and carry out transactions. It is already available to 300,000 people and will reach 100% of customers by the end of 2026;
- São Paulo,
July 2026 – Advances in artificial intelligence are transforming how people access information, make decisions and relate to companies. Following mobile banking, artificial intelligence is opening a new frontier in the financial experience, one in which conversations, context and individualization become central foundations. Against this backdrop, Itaú Unibanco is introducing ia.i (Itaú Artificial Intelligence), its new AI-based conversational experience. It marks a new stage in the evolution of banking by allowing customers to interact with the bank based on their needs, goals and questions, using natural language.
The new solution brings together the data, financial knowledge, state-of-the-art digital experience, AI models and contextual capabilities that the bank has built over recent years to offer a new conversational experience, allowing customers to access this intelligence in a simple, natural and integrated way.
The launch is the result of a journey that began in 2024, when Itaú pioneered the first Itaú Intelligence capabilities to support specific customer financial needs. Since then, the bank has gradually expanded the use of artificial intelligence across different journeys, incorporating new forms of guidance, service and interaction. Over the past year, the bank advanced solutions that paved the way for this new phase, including Pix on WhatsApp, Itaú Intelligence for Investments, Itaú Emps for small entrepreneurs, and the Laranjinha+ card reader with GenAI.
Now, through ia.i, the experience will expand to cover all topics related to customers’ financial lives, encompassing capabilities involving checking accounts, credit, cards, insurance and other services. Itaú will therefore offer a complete conversational layer that brings together, in a single environment, different interactions involving products and services across the banking ecosystem. This conversational layer is designed to connect customers with specialized human support whenever needed. The new experience is already available to approximately 300,000 customers and will be gradually expanded over the coming months. It is expected to reach approximately 3 million customers by September and the entire customer base by the end of 2026. Customers can request information, execute commands and ask questions naturally, by voice or text, using the Itaú Intelligence shortcut directly on the app’s home page.
The experience was designed to make conversations simple, fluid and approachable, adapting to each person’s tone of voice. Instead of starting by searching for a specific feature, customers can simply say what they need. ia.i then understands the customer’s intent, considers their relationship history, financial context, goals and stage of life, and connects different Itaú Intelligence capabilities to provide information, guidance and services in a simple and contextualized way.
Although conversation is the starting point, conventional navigation continues to play an important role. ia.i was developed to combine natural language and click-based interaction within the same journey, directing customers to app features whenever that is the most efficient way to complete an action. The proposal is to combine the depth of conversation with the practicality of digital navigation, creating hybrid experiences that adapt to the needs of each moment.
The solution was built on three core principles that can redefine Brazilians’ relationship with financial services: interactivity, enabling more natural conversations capable of supporting decisions; multimodality, combining text, voice, image and clicks in a single experience; and individualization, with responses tailored to each customer’s context, needs and stage of life.
At launch, ia.i already supports interactions related to understanding customers’ financial lives, learning about the bank’s products and services, managing day-to-day finances and completing transactional journeys such as Pix. Customers can write or speak to interact with the bank and receive contextualized responses based on their relationship, goals and financial needs. For the first time, intent, guidance and action take place within the same experience.
“Artificial intelligence is helping redefine how people relate to financial services. Over the past decade, the market has built increasingly better apps. The next frontier is building a better relationship. ia.i was born from this vision. It allows customers to start with their needs, turning conversation into a new way to understand, guide and support financial decisions. Ultimately, we are creating a new way for Brazilians to relate to money,” says João Araújo, Director of Strategy, Customer Life Cycle and Artificial Intelligence at Itaú Unibanco. “We believe we can lead this transformation by combining assets that are highly proprietary to Itaú and represent a market differentiator: people’s trust; Itaú’s recognized security; deep knowledge of our customers, built over decades of relationships; and the technological expertise to create increasingly relevant experiences,” he concludes.
With this update, Itaú Intelligence will operate even more broadly, integrated with various products and app flows. The platform’s evolution also marks the transition to a more advisory and contextual experience, in which conversation helps organize the customer journey and creates the experience in real time. As it is used, ia.i makes its recommendations increasingly relevant, strengthening a relationship based on context, guidance and trust.
The launch is taking place in an initial phase, and the platform will continue to evolve over the coming months. Capabilities planned for the next stages include product simulation and contracting features, as well as recurring financial analyses of customer income, expenses and financial habits.
65% of Brazilians would already like to have AI as a financial copilot
The solution aims to simplify customers’ relationship with money and transform the app into an environment where questions, goals and financial decisions can be addressed more naturally. The proposal directly reflects trends identified in the survey “Awareness and Prosperity: Brazilians’ New Relationship with Money,” conducted by Itaú in partnership with Grupo Consumoteca.
According to the study, 80% of Brazilians want to better organize their financial lives and seek more assertive support when making decisions. In addition, 65% say they would like to rely on technologies that work as a financial copilot, providing ongoing guidance. The survey also shows that 77% associate prosperity with balance and planning, reinforcing the need for tools that make the topic simpler and more accessible.
The launch of ia.i follows years of investment in data, governance and artificial intelligence. During this period, Itaú structured capabilities focused on data quality and protection, continuous model monitoring, responsible use of technology and the development of proprietary AI platforms. This foundation supports the evolution of new digital experiences and enables the bank to develop solutions at scale with security, privacy and clear governance criteria.
“ia.i addresses exactly what we have heard from our customers: the desire for a simpler, more welcoming financial experience aligned with each person’s pace. It is a technology that supports, guides and provides clarity without replacing the customer’s leading role in their own decisions, while maintaining the ethical, security and trust standards, as well as the responsible use of data, that we apply to all our artificial intelligence solutions,” says Carlos Eduardo Mazzei, Technology Director at Itaú Unibanco.
The ability to lead this new stage of the financial experience is supported by differentiators built over decades: customers’ trust in the Itaú brand, the deep knowledge generated through relationships with millions of Brazilians, and a technology foundation capable of scaling artificial intelligence experiences with security, governance and responsibility. The combination of these elements allows the bank to transform technological advances into solutions relevant to people’s financial lives.
Itaú’s AI First strategy
The launch of ia.i is one of the most visible expressions of Itaú’s AI First strategy. Its objective is to use AI as a cross-cutting capability to understand needs, support decisions and continuously evolve the customer experience. The same intelligence that powers ia.i also supports employees and different areas of the bank. Itaú’s strategy envisions a single intelligence layer applied to customers, specialists and businesses, enabling higher-quality decisions, guidance and experiences at different touchpoints.
The application of ia.i for employees brings information, knowledge and context together in a single experience, supporting specialists and service teams in understanding each customer’s needs. The technology reduces operational activities, expands analytical capacity and enables more advisory, personalized conversations aligned with each person’s stage of life. Implementation is expected to result in three times more time available for customer relationships, service up to twice as fast and up to three times greater effectiveness in conversations.
For customers, this means an integrated experience across digital channels, specialists and relationship managers, with greater continuity, context and ability to address financial needs. For employees, it means greater analytical capacity, more context to support decisions and more time dedicated to human relationships. The proposal combines digital autonomy, artificial intelligence and specialized service in a single, connected experience.
Together, the applications of ia.i for specialists, relationship managers and service representatives reflect a new stage in Itaú’s evolution. By combining artificial intelligence, financial context and human relationships, the bank consolidates a model capable of understanding needs, supporting decisions and building increasingly relevant experiences throughout people’s financial lives.