# American Express: Virtual assistant

Source: https://www.bankingnewsai.com/banks/american-express/virtual-assistant
Last updated: Oct 31, 2026

*Part of the [American Express AI strategy profile](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/banks/american-express).*

## What AI assistants does American Express offer customers and employees?

American Express has no single branded chatbot; it runs several narrow assistants. For Card Members, the Q4 2025 earnings release records 'launching Dining Companion', which Stephen Squeri said on October 23, 2026 'uses insights from cardmember spending to make personalized restaurant recommendations'; Wishlist Builder in the Amex Travel app 'uses AI to help customers discover hotels and plan trips'; and Amex 'recently launched our first few conversational AI voice agents' in servicing. Its dining and hotel conversational experiences use OpenAI models, Resy discovery and reservations launched in ChatGPT in 2026, U.S. Resy restaurants were made discoverable in Claude, and an Amex Offers plugin for ChatGPT is in development. Business Card Members can use Amex-curated AI tools on Perplexity. Behind the scenes, colleagues have had assistants longer: an IT chatbot launched in October 2023 raised queries solved without a live engineer by 40%, an AI companion supports 5,000 travel counselors, and a colleague help center reached 96% accuracy, CTO Hilary Packer said in April 2025. The servicing line, from Global Servicing Innovation head Anthony Devane, is that Gen AI should enhance, not replace, human service and that customers 'can connect with real people when it matters most'. Amex has not published usage or containment figures for any customer-facing assistant. ([American Express (SEC filings)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/4962/000000496226000037/q425exhibit991.htm), [The Motley Fool](https://fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/10/23/amex-axp-q3-2026-earnings-call-transcript), [PYMNTS](https://pymnts.com/economy/2026/american-express-plans-job-cuts-sets-ai-rules-generation-z-spending-jumps-35percent), [American Express](https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/newsroom/articles/innovation/building-the-future-of-ai-at-american-express--meet-berta-rodrig.html), [VentureBeat](https://venturebeat.com/ai/how-amex-uses-ai-to-increase-efficiency-40-fewer-it-escalations-85-travel-assistance-boost), [American Express](https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/newsroom/articles/innovation/consumers-want-gen-ai-with-empathy--personalization--and-a-human.html))

## Which AI assistants can American Express customers use?

Customer-facing assistants and AI experiences on the record; most were described on the October 23, 2026 earnings call.

| Assistant | What it does | Where | Date | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Dining Companion | Uses insights from Card Member spending to make personalized restaurant recommendations | Amex app | Launched in 2025; described October 23, 2026 | [American Express (SEC filings)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/4962/000000496226000037/q425exhibit991.htm), [The Motley Fool](https://fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/10/23/amex-axp-q3-2026-earnings-call-transcript) |
| Wishlist Builder | Uses AI to help customers discover hotels and plan trips | Amex Travel app | October 23, 2026 | [The Motley Fool](https://fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/10/23/amex-axp-q3-2026-earnings-call-transcript) |
| Voice agents | 'We recently launched our first few conversational AI voice agents'; AI is also used to resolve service issues and investigate complaints and disputes | Customer service | October 23, 2026 | [The Motley Fool](https://fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/10/23/amex-axp-q3-2026-earnings-call-transcript), [PYMNTS](https://pymnts.com/economy/2026/american-express-plans-job-cuts-sets-ai-rules-generation-z-spending-jumps-35percent) |
| Resy on AI platforms | Resy restaurant discovery and reservations in ChatGPT; U.S. Resy restaurants discoverable in Claude; an Amex plugin to discover and enroll in Amex Offers in development with OpenAI | ChatGPT and Claude | 2026 | [The Motley Fool](https://fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/10/23/amex-axp-q3-2026-earnings-call-transcript), [American Express](https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/newsroom/articles/innovation/building-the-future-of-ai-at-american-express--meet-berta-rodrig.html) |
| Dining and hotel conversations | Proprietary dining and hotel conversational experiences that use OpenAI models | Amex channels | October 23, 2026 | [The Motley Fool](https://fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/10/23/amex-axp-q3-2026-earnings-call-transcript) |
| Business tools on Perplexity | Eligible business Card Members can use Amex-curated AI tools for tasks like cash flow forecasting and creating marketing campaigns | Perplexity | October 23, 2026 | [The Motley Fool](https://fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/10/23/amex-axp-q3-2026-earnings-call-transcript) |

## Which AI assistants do American Express employees use?

| Date | Assistant | What was said | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| April 2, 2025 | IT chatbot | Since launching in October 2023, a 40% increase in IT queries resolved without a transfer to a live engineer | [VentureBeat](https://venturebeat.com/ai/how-amex-uses-ai-to-increase-efficiency-40-fewer-it-escalations-85-travel-assistance-boost) |
| April 2, 2025 | Travel counselor companion | Supports 5,000 travel counselors across 19 markets; more than 85% say it saves time and improves recommendations | [VentureBeat](https://venturebeat.com/ai/how-amex-uses-ai-to-increase-efficiency-40-fewer-it-escalations-85-travel-assistance-boost) |
| April 2, 2025 | Colleague help center | A 96% accuracy rate; intent-based search improved responses by 26% | [VentureBeat](https://venturebeat.com/ai/how-amex-uses-ai-to-increase-efficiency-40-fewer-it-escalations-85-travel-assistance-boost) |
| July 24, 2026 | Service portal for reps | An AI-powered service portal for service representatives designed to reduce the time needed for calls | [American Banker](https://www.americanbanker.com/payments/news/amex-reports-earnings-in-line-with-analyst-expectations) |
| August 24, 2026 | Real-time servicing support | Mohammed Badi, president of Global Servicing: AI can listen alongside a colleague, identify signals and suggest questions or next steps in disputes; 'We are in the top of the first inning of a nine-inning game' | [Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jefffromm/2026/08/24/how-american-express-will-drive-innovation-through-an-ai--mindset/) |
| October 23, 2026 | Colleague tools | Squeri: 'a broad suite of AI tools that help our colleagues access the right information, understand customer needs, develop personalized recommendations, and resolve issues more effectively' | [The Motley Fool](https://fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/10/23/amex-axp-q3-2026-earnings-call-transcript) |

## How does American Express balance AI assistants with human service?

Amex frames assistants as support for people. Anthony Devane, EVP Global Servicing Innovation, said in August 2025: 'We use Gen AI to empower our customer care professionals, streamline operations, and deliver smarter, faster service, while always ensuring our customers can connect with real people when it matters most.' The accompanying Trendex survey found 70% of U.S. adults had used a Gen AI customer service tool and 53% worried about a lack of human empathy. ([American Express](https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/newsroom/articles/innovation/consumers-want-gen-ai-with-empathy--personalization--and-a-human.html))

Outside assistants get rules. On the October 23, 2026 call Squeri said Amex will admit agents only 'through API or MCP channels' and does not want them 'pinging Resy every four seconds' to the disadvantage of other Card Members, while still embedding Amex's own agents in AI platforms. ([The Motley Fool](https://fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/10/23/amex-axp-q3-2026-earnings-call-transcript))

Not disclosed: how many Card Members use Dining Companion or the voice agents, what share of calls they handle, or which models power the voice agents; the only named model provider for Amex's own conversational experiences is OpenAI. ([The Motley Fool](https://fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/10/23/amex-axp-q3-2026-earnings-call-transcript), [American Express (SEC filings)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/4962/000000496226000037/q425exhibit991.htm))

## What does the Amex profile record on this topic?

| Date | Move | Detail | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Oct 1, 2026 | Marrs: agentic commerce is 'less about tech and more about trust' | Group President of Global Merchant and Network Services Anna Marrs tells American Banker that Amex supports the Agent Payments protocol (an open standard with Google, PayPal and 60-plus other companies) and that AI agents already automate parts of credit underwriting, fraud detection and personalised customer service. | [American Banker](https://www.americanbanker.com/news/2026-the-most-powerful-women-in-finance-13-anna-marrs-american-express) |
| Aug 25, 2026 | AI dispute pilot doubles instant resolutions | An AI pilot surfaces similar historical transactions to service reps; immediately resolved dispute cases more than doubled. | [Payments Dive](https://www.paymentsdive.com/news/amexs-low-fraud-rate-turns-on-its-closed-system/828716/) |
| Aug 7, 2026 | Amex GBT's Egencia connector in Claude | Agentic corporate travel through Anthropic's assistant. | [American Banker](https://www.americanbanker.com/payments/news/amex-gbt-adds-agentic-commerce-to-corporate-travel) |
| Aug 4, 2026 | Amex Ventures invests in Pie | Pie, an AI-powered growth platform for small businesses, offers AI Search for visibility in assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity and a Front Desk voice agent that answers calls and takes bookings; the release gives no investment amount. | [Finextra](https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/110565/amex-ventures-invests-in-smb-growth--platform-pie) |
| May 12, 2026 | $300 ChatGPT Business credit | A card benefit on Business Platinum and Business Gold. | [American Express](https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/business/trends-and-insights/articles/how-to-get-more-done-with-chatgpt-business-a-new-benefit-for-american-express-business-platinum-card-and-business-gold-card-members), [CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/select/amex-adds-chatgpt-credit-business-platinum-and-business-gold-cards/) |
| Apr 24, 2026 | Resy restaurants discoverable in Claude | Amex and Anthropic let Claude users browse Resy tables in conversation and hand off to Resy to book; the release is undated and coverage ran on April 26 and 27. | [American Express](https://americanexpress.com/en-us/newsroom/articles/travel-and-dining/american-express-partners-with-anthropic-to-make-u-s--resy-resta.html) |
| Apr 16, 2026 | Agrees to buy Hypercard | Agentic expense management; AI talent for commercial services. | [American Express via FT Markets](https://markets-data-api-proxy.ft.com/data/announce/full?dockey=600-202604160915BIZWIRE_USPRX____20260415_BW433431-1), [American Banker](https://www.americanbanker.com/payments/news/amex-agrees-to-buy-more-tools-to-feed-its-ai-plans) |
| Mar 25, 2026 | Letter details internal AI deployment | AI-assisted development tools reach more than 11,000 engineers (coding cycle time down over 30%); the company plans to pilot conversational AI agents for its legacy voice response systems and is piloting AI to classify fraud claims. | [American Express](https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/newsroom/articles/financial-news/2026-chairman-s-letter-to-shareholders.html) |
| Jan 30, 2026 | Q4 2025 call: a cloud data platform and GenAI tools for nearly all colleagues | The third-generation data and analytics platform already cuts key marketing and fraud process times by 90%, with all data and analytics processes to migrate by 2027; Dining Companion launched and agent-commerce standards developed with partners. | [Motley Fool (Yahoo Finance)](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/american-express-axp-q4-2025-152307902.html), [American Express (SEC filings)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/4962/000000496226000037/q425exhibit991.htm) |
| Jan 20, 2026 | LLM risk-mitigation patent granted | US 12,530,174 B2, filed October 2023 by American Express Travel Related Services Company, covers generating risk-mitigation code for applications that call a network LLM service. | [Google Patents (USPTO)](https://patents.google.com/patent/US12530174B2/en) |
| Jan 7, 2026 | Amex Digital Labs profile | Luke Gebb says the lab brings about 15 to 20 initiatives to market a year; it built the first servicing chatbot and the Dining Companion and works with Google and Cloudflare on agentic transaction standards. | [Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterhigh/2026/01/07/amex-digital-labs-is-scaling-innovation-from-experiment-to-enterprise/) |
| Apr 2, 2025 | Packer on Amex's enterprise generative AI | CTO Hilary Packer says a council identified 500 use cases and 70 were in implementation; 9,000 engineers use GitHub Copilot, the IT chatbot (live since October 2023) resolves 40% more queries without escalation, and a travel counselor assistant serves 5,000 counselors in 19 markets. | [VentureBeat](https://venturebeat.com/ai/how-amex-uses-ai-to-increase-efficiency-40-fewer-it-escalations-85-travel-assistance-boost) |

## Common questions

### Does American Express have an AI assistant for customers?

Several narrow ones rather than one chatbot. Dining Companion in the Amex app recommends restaurants from Card Member spending insights, Wishlist Builder in the Amex Travel app helps plan trips, and Amex said on October 23, 2026 that it had launched its first few conversational AI voice agents in customer service. Its dining and hotel conversational experiences use OpenAI models.

### Can American Express customers still reach a human?

Yes, by Amex's stated policy. Anthony Devane, who leads Global Servicing Innovation, said in August 2025 that Amex uses Gen AI to support customer care professionals while ensuring customers can connect with real people when it matters most; Amex's own survey found 53% of U.S. adults worry about a lack of empathy in Gen AI service.

### What AI tools do American Express service colleagues use?

An AI-powered service portal for representatives (2026), real-time AI that listens alongside colleagues and suggests next steps in disputes, an AI companion for 5,000 travel counselors, a colleague help center with 96% accuracy and an IT chatbot that since October 2023 has raised self-resolved IT queries by 40%.

### Does American Express work with ChatGPT or Claude?

Both. Resy restaurant discovery and reservations launched in ChatGPT in 2026, Amex is building an Amex Offers plugin with OpenAI, and U.S. Resy restaurants were made discoverable in Anthropic's Claude. Amex also offers business Card Members curated AI tools through Perplexity, and says outside agents may reach its systems only through approved API or MCP channels.
## Deeper on Amex

- [What is American Express's AI strategy and technology vision?](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/banks/american-express/ai-strategy)
- [What AI patents, partnerships and investments does American Express have?](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/banks/american-express/ai-research-patents-partnerships)
- [How does American Express use AI for fraud detection and credit decisions?](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/banks/american-express/fraud-and-credit-ai)
- [How is American Express preparing its payments network for AI agents?](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/banks/american-express/payments-ai)
- [What is American Express's role in the digital payments transformation?](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/banks/american-express/digital-payments-transformation)
- [How does American Express govern AI and manage AI risk?](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/banks/american-express/responsible-ai)
- [How is AI changing American Express's workforce?](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/banks/american-express/ai-workforce)


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