Next Practices Weekly welcomed Sachin Jain, Managing Director and HR Leader for Fixed Income Spread Products and Commodities at Citi for a forward-looking conversation on how artificial intelligence is reshaping talent strategy - and why the future of AI will depend as much on people, skills, governance, and organizational capability as it does on technology. Jain shared insights from Citi’s AI journey, including its efforts to democratize access to AI, safely scale new use cases, and introduce AI agents into the flow of work while maintaining strong human oversight.
Moderated by i4cp’s Katheryn Brekken, PhD and Tom Stone, the conversation explored how Citi is moving from individual AI-enabled productivity to enterprise process transformation. Jain highlighted practical applications already underway across HR, including AI-powered employee support, recruiting, and performance management, as well as Citi’s growing ecosystem of AI agents. Throughout the discussion, he emphasized that HR and technology must work in partnership to prepare employees, establish responsible governance, and ensure that critical talent decisions remain firmly in human hands.
Key Topics Discussed
- Democratizing AI to Accelerate Workforce Adoption: Citi has taken a broad-based approach to AI access, with approximately 180,000 employees across 87 jurisdictions having access to its AI tools at the time of the discussion. Rather than limiting AI experimentation to technical teams, Citi is enabling employees to identify productivity opportunities, share effective practices, and help shape new use cases - while maintaining regulatory and risk controls.
- Moving from AI Productivity to Enterprise Transformation: Citi’s strategy extends beyond making existing work faster. Jain described an approach that progresses from individual productivity and reusable AI “presets” to larger operating-model initiatives designed to reimagine processes with an AI-first mindset. The goal is not simply to automate pieces of existing workflows, but to reconsider how work itself should be designed.
- Managing AI Agents with Governance and Human Oversight: Citi is beginning to scale agentic AI through an internal platform designed to provide governance, testing, and a centralized repository for agents. Jain noted that Citi had approximately 400 agents in use at the time of the session. A core principle is clear accountability: AI can assist, summarize, automate, and execute defined tasks, but critical employee decisions - including hiring, ratings, and promotions - remain with humans.
- Putting AI to Work Across the HR Lifecycle: Jain highlighted several HR applications already delivering value. Citi HR Assist has evolved from answering employee policy questions to supporting certain transactions through connected HR systems. In recruiting, AI-supported matching has contributed to an approximately 20% reduction in time to offer. Performance Assist gives managers a starting point for employee reviews by synthesizing goals, feedback, self-assessments, and other available data - while leaving the final evaluation and rating to the manager.
- Building AI Fluency as a Core Human Capability: Citi is pairing technology deployment with significant workforce education and change management. Its “Prompt Like a Pro” program introduced employees to more effective prompting, while AI champions help bring emerging practices and use cases into local teams. Businesses and functions are also dedicating recurring learning time to AI. Jain emphasized that as technology becomes increasingly accessible, human capabilities such as curiosity, empathy, agility, and learning agility will become even more important differentiators.
For Human Capital leaders, the session offered a compelling view of what workforce transformation can look like at enterprise scale. From AI fluency and change management to human-in-the-loop governance and the growing role of digital workers, Jain provided practical lessons for HR teams navigating the next phase of AI adoption. Watch the recording to explore how Citi is building the capabilities, guardrails, and talent practices needed for a workforce increasingly powered by both people and AI.
Resources Shared
- The New Rules of Succession Management
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To ensure open discussion, this event was exclusively for HR practitioners. Vendors and consultants are not permitted to attend.