Bank of Ireland has appointed Prag Sharma, a former director of emerging technologies at Citigroup, as its new chief artificial intelligence officer. Sharma will take on the newly-created role when he begins in October. He “will lead the Group’s AI delivery and enablement,” Bank of Ireland said, “and will also be involved in leading out on our emerging technology direction in conjunction with group strategy.”“He will join the Enterprise Services leadership team, working alongside our Digital & Data, Security, and IT leaders to embed AI across all areas,” a spokesperson said in a statement.Sharma joins Ireland’s largest bank after nearly a decade at the Dublin office of Citigroup, one of the largest US banks.Previous roles he has held at Citigroup include its global head of AI and senior vice president of its innovation labs. He established Citigroup’s Global AI Centre of Excellence, which delivered products across 96 countries, before serving as director of Citi Institute’s Future of Finance think tank, Bank of Ireland said.Before this, Sharma worked in Deloitte’s advanced analytics consulting practice and Accenture’s integrated markets group, both in Dublin during the early 2000s and 2010s.Between these roles, he worked as a programme manager at a UCD research centre and cofounded a software analytics venture.Bank of Ireland described Sharma as “an accomplished AI leader with deep technical knowledge and extensive global experience.” Ciarán Coyle, the lender’s chief operating officer, described the appointment as “critical”. Sharma “brings the vision, leadership and expertise required to safely accelerate our AI transformation and unlock meaningful value across the Group,” Coyle said.“With a proven track record of delivering impactful AI globally ... [Sharma’s] appointment also reflects our ambition to position Bank of Ireland at the forefront of responsible AI innovation and adoption,” he added.Sharma earned a bachelor’s degree in electronic engineering in 2000, a PhD in computer vision and pattern recognition in 2004 and a master of business administration (MBA) in 2013 all from UCD.He continues to sit on UCD’s governing authority and its strategy oversight subcommittee.