CBA names AI researcher Professor Mary-Anne Williams as Chief AI Scientist

"Commonwealth Bank of Australia appointed Professor Mary-Anne Williams as its first Chief AI Scientist on Monday , recruiting one of the country's best-known AI researchers from the University of New South Wales after what the bank described as an extensive global search. Williams will lead CommBank's team of Distinguished AI Scientists, a group focused on machine learning, responsible AI, AI security, and generative AI."

"Williams holds the Michael J Crouch Chair for Innovation at UNSW and is the founder of the UNSW Business AI Lab and deputy director of the UNSW AI Institute. She is a Fellow at Stanford and a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, sits on Robohub's Top 25 Women in Robotics list, and is the academic whose Sydney-based Social Robotics RoboCup team won the world championship in 2019."

"Her published research has, over the past 18 months, focused on how organisations should manage and orchestrate fleets of generative AI agents at scale. That is the subject CBA is now hiring her to extend inside a bank."

"The Chief AI Scientist title is new at CBA, but the broader buildout it sits on top of is not. Ranil Boteju joined as Chief AI Officer in November 2025 after a stint as Lloyds Banking Group's data chief. CBA announced a $90m AI-ready workforce programme in February. The bank opened a San Francisco Technology Hub earlier this month to put its engineers next to AI labs, alongside an existing Seattle Tech Hub."

Commonwealth Bank of Australia appointed Professor Mary-Anne Williams as its first Chief AI Scientist after an extensive global search. Williams, based in Sydney, will lead a team of Distinguished AI Scientists focused on machine learning, responsible AI, AI security, and generative AI. She holds the Michael J Crouch Chair for Innovation at UNSW, founded the UNSW Business AI Lab, and serves as deputy director of the UNSW AI Institute. She is a Stanford Fellow and an AAAI Fellow, and her Social Robotics RoboCup team won the world championship in 2019. Her recent research centers on managing and orchestrating fleets of generative AI agents at scale. The role builds on prior AI investments including a Chief AI Officer appointment, an AI-ready workforce program, new technology hubs, and partnerships with major AI and cloud providers.

Read at TNW | Au