# Fifth Third Bancorp: Research and IP

Source: https://www.bankingnewsai.com/banks/fifth-third/ai-research-patents-partnerships
Last updated: Oct 16, 2026

*Part of the [Fifth Third Bancorp AI strategy profile](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/banks/fifth-third).*

## What AI patents, research and partnerships does Fifth Third have?

Fifth Third's AI intellectual property is small and specific: Fifth Third Bank, N.A. holds a granted U.S. patent on training and deploying natural-language-understanding models (US 12,482,454 B2, November 25, 2025), one on a jailbreak-resistant security framework for AI systems (US 12,556,388 B1, February 17, 2026) and one on deep-learning cash-structuring monitoring (US 11,868,865 B1, 2024); a Google Patents assignee search on October 15, 2026 found no other AI filings. It runs no public research lab; the work sits with an AI group under the CIO and AI scientists managed by Jay Budzik. Partners carry most of the AI: Microsoft Copilot and GitHub Copilot for staff, Amazon for public cloud, nCino for commercial loan operations, Brex's AI agents for commercial cards (December 2025, $5.6 billion of annual card volume) and Anthropic, which invited the bank into Project Glasswing in 2026. On the payments side the bank buys or backs fintechs: Rize Money and Big Data Healthcare (2023), DTS Connex (2025) and a 2026 strategic investment in Payload, while Newline serves Stripe, Trustly, Plaid, Circle, Rippling and Corepay. ([Google Patents (USPTO)](https://patents.google.com/patent/US12482454B2/en), [Google Patents (USPTO)](https://patents.google.com/patent/US12556388B1/en), [Google Patents (USPTO)](https://patents.google.com/patent/US11868865B1/en), [Forbes](https://forbes.com/sites/peterhigh/2025/01/16/fifth-third-banks-cio-on-ai-cloud-and-customer-centric-innovation), [Northwestern McCormick School of Engineering](https://mccormick.northwestern.edu/computer-science/news-events/news/articles/2026/alum-spotlight-jay-budzik.html), [Fortune](https://fortune.com/2024/12/04/fifth-third-cio-ai-buy-rather-than-build/), [Fifth Third](https://onlinebanking.53.com/content/fifth-third/en/media-center/press-releases/2025/press-release-2025-12-09.html), [PYMNTS](https://pymnts.com/cybersecurity/2026/anthropic-recruits-fifth-third-for-project-glasswing-ai-cybersecurity-initiative), [Payments Dive](https://www.paymentsdive.com/news/fifth-third-buys-cash-management-software-dts-connex/758310/), [American Banker](https://www.americanbanker.com/payments/news/fifth-third-invests-in-embedded-payments-firm-payload), [American Banker](https://www.americanbanker.com/payments/news/how-fifth-third-grew-embedded-banking-fee-revenue-53-in-2025), [earnings call transcript (The Motley Fool)](https://fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/04/17/fifth-third-fitb-q1-2026-earnings-transcript))

## Which AI patents does Fifth Third hold?

Assignee Fifth Third Bank, N.A., per Google Patents (USPTO data). An assignee search on October 15, 2026 returned no further AI-related applications; the bank does not publish a patent count.

| Number | Title | Status | Date | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| US 12,482,454 B2 | Methods and systems for training and deploying natural language understanding models; inventors include Art Weston, the bank's AI transformation lead | Granted | November 25, 2025 (filed August 10, 2023) | [Google Patents (USPTO)](https://patents.google.com/patent/US12482454B2/en) |
| US 2025/0054493 A1 | The same invention as published application | Published | February 13, 2025 | [Google Patents (USPTO)](https://patents.google.com/patent/US20250054493A1/en) |
| US 12,556,388 B1 | Security framework for artificial intelligence systems: dynamically changing keys to resist attempts to bypass a model's built-in constraints | Granted | February 17, 2026 (filed August 19, 2024) | [Google Patents (USPTO)](https://patents.google.com/patent/US12556388B1/en) |
| US 11,868,865 B1 | Systems and methods for cash structuring activity monitoring; the claims describe a deep learning model generated from an ensemble teacher model | Granted | January 9, 2024 (filed June 8, 2023) | [Google Patents (USPTO)](https://patents.google.com/patent/US11868865B1/en) |
| Context | Weston said in June 2024 that he had applied for patents on the Jeanie language-understanding work and on generative-AI risks such as hallucination and jailbreaking | Statement | June 21, 2024 | [American Banker](https://americanbanker.com/news/overhauling-chatbots-harnessing-gen-ai-art-weston-fifth-third) |

## Who are Fifth Third's AI and technology partners?

As announced or described by executives. 'Partner' here means a named vendor or programme; amounts are as published.

| Partner | What it does for Fifth Third | Since / as of | Source type | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Microsoft | Microsoft 365 Copilot for about 14,000 workers and GitHub Copilot for nearly 450 engineers; another 100 employees testing M365 Copilot | December 2024 | Press interview | [Fortune](https://fortune.com/2024/12/04/fifth-third-cio-ai-buy-rather-than-build/) |
| Amazon (AWS) | Public-cloud partner integrated with the bank's private cloud | January 2025 | Press interview | [Forbes](https://forbes.com/sites/peterhigh/2025/01/16/fifth-third-banks-cio-on-ai-cloud-and-customer-centric-innovation) |
| nCino and Workday | Commercial loan operations (nCino; building it in-house would have taken five times longer and cost about twice as much, the CIO estimated) and HR software (Workday) | December 2024 | Press interview | [Fortune](https://fortune.com/2024/12/04/fifth-third-cio-ai-buy-rather-than-build/) |
| LivePerson | Chatbot provider whose language-understanding algorithm Jeanie's overhaul built on | June 2024 | Press interview | [American Banker](https://americanbanker.com/news/overhauling-chatbots-harnessing-gen-ai-art-weston-fifth-third) |
| Brex | Brex Embedded runs the commercial card program; Brex's AI agents capture receipts, match transactions, enforce spend policy and speed month-end close; piloted in one regional market before rolling out across commercial segments | December 2025 | Bank release and trade press | [Fifth Third](https://onlinebanking.53.com/content/fifth-third/en/media-center/press-releases/2025/press-release-2025-12-09.html), [Banking Dive](https://www.bankingdive.com/news/fifth-third-brex-ink-corporate-card-partnership/807563/) |
| Anthropic (Project Glasswing) | Invited into Anthropic's cybersecurity programme; the CFO attributes it to the bank's payments role; what the bank does with the access is not public | June 2026 | Conference remarks via trade press | [PYMNTS](https://pymnts.com/cybersecurity/2026/anthropic-recruits-fifth-third-for-project-glasswing-ai-cybersecurity-initiative) |
| Ataccama | Data-quality platform used to centralise and standardise data management across business lines | January 2025 | Vendor press article | [Finextra](https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/103753/fifth-third-bank-centralises-data-management-with-ataccama) |
| Trust & Will | Free estate planning in the mobile app; named Finovate's best fintech partnership | 2025; September 2026 | Bank release | [Investing.com](https://www.investing.com/news/transcripts/earnings-call-transcript-fifth-third-bancorp-beats-q4-2025-eps-forecast-93CH-4455871), [Fifth Third (Business Wire via Yahoo Finance)](https://finance.yahoo.com/small-business/articles/fifth-third-trust-recognized-best-131700576.html) |

## Which fintechs has Fifth Third bought or invested in?

Payments and data businesses that feed the bank's automation and agentic-payments plans. Deal sizes were not disclosed unless shown.

| Company | Deal | Why it matters for AI and automation | Date | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Rize Money | Acquisition | Embedded-payments platform that, with the bank's legacy system, became Newline | 2023 | [Payments Dive](https://www.paymentsdive.com/news/fifth-third-buys-cash-management-software-dts-connex/758310/) |
| Big Data Healthcare | Acquisition | Aggregates healthcare payment data to drive automation; managed-services head Adam Keck says the bank has 'several different proofs of concept going on across the portfolio with AI' and wants to avoid 'hallucination or other challenges' | 2023 | [PYMNTS](https://www.pymnts.com/healthcare/2025/fifth-third-bets-big-data-will-tame-healthcares-revenue-storm/) |
| DTS Connex | Acquisition (wholly owned from August 1, 2025) | Cash-logistics software; the bank said it 'expands our ability to automate cash operations' | August 2025 | [Payments Dive](https://www.paymentsdive.com/news/fifth-third-buys-cash-management-software-dts-connex/758310/) |
| Payload | Strategic investment (Payload's first significant outside capital; size undisclosed) | Embedded-payments platform processing close to $500 million a month with real-time risk monitoring and integrated KYC built in | August 2026 | [American Banker](https://www.americanbanker.com/payments/news/fifth-third-invests-in-embedded-payments-firm-payload), [FinTech Global](https://fintech.global/2026/08/24/fifth-third-backs-payload-in-embedded-payments-push/) |
| Newline clients | Platform relationships | Stripe (treasury), Trustly (ACH and real-time payments), Corepay and Rippling (BIN sponsorship), Circle (stablecoin custody infrastructure); Plaid launched a payment product on Newline in 2026 | 2024-2026 | [American Banker](https://www.americanbanker.com/payments/news/how-fifth-third-grew-embedded-banking-fee-revenue-53-in-2025), [earnings call transcript (The Motley Fool)](https://fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/04/17/fifth-third-fitb-q1-2026-earnings-transcript) |
| Comerica | Acquisition, $10.9 billion, closed February 2026 | Its Tech and Life Sciences franchise is paired with Newline in Fifth Third Innovation Banking (October 2026) | 2026 | [Fifth Third](https://53.com/content/fifth-third/en/media-center/press-releases/2026/press-release-2026-09-08.html), [Fifth Third (Business Wire via FT Markets)](https://markets.ft.com/data/announce/full?dockey=600-202610010800BIZWIRE_USPRX____20261001_BW287040-1) |

## What does the Fifth Third profile record on this topic?

| Date | Move | Detail | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Jun 10, 2026 | Invited into Anthropic's Project Glasswing | CFO Bryan Preston tells the Morgan Stanley U.S. Financials Conference the bank was invited in recent weeks, which he attributes to its role in payments infrastructure. | [PYMNTS](https://pymnts.com/cybersecurity/2026/anthropic-recruits-fifth-third-for-project-glasswing-ai-cybersecurity-initiative) |
| Jun 1, 2026 | Newline named Innovation of the Year honoree | For powering payments and embedded finance for fintechs and enterprises. | [Fifth Third](https://www.53.com/content/fifth-third/en/media-center/press-releases/2026/press-release-2026-06-05.html), [American Banker](https://www.americanbanker.com/news/fifth-thirds-newline-is-one-of-the-innovation-of-the-year-honorees) |
| Apr 17, 2026 | Q1 2026 call: Plaid on Newline, tight limits on AI-infrastructure lending | Plaid launched a payment product on Newline alongside Stripe and Circle; Spence calls the tech conversion the largest transaction risk and plans three or four mock conversions; software loans are under 1% of the book and funded data-centre exposure under $100 million. | [earnings call transcript (The Motley Fool)](https://fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/04/17/fifth-third-fitb-q1-2026-earnings-transcript), [Investing.com](https://investing.com/news/transcripts/earnings-call-transcript-fifth-third-bancorp-beats-eps-forecasts-in-q1-2026-93CH-4621035), [American Banker](https://www.americanbanker.com/news/fifth-third-ceo-on-comerica-integration-so-far-so-good) |
| Apr 13, 2026 | Newline MCP server adds Skills | Standardises how AI models use tools and workflows for embedded-finance clients. | [Fifth Third (Business Wire via Yahoo Finance)](https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/fifth-third-newline-extends-mcp-120000221.html) |
| Feb 17, 2026 | Jailbreak-resistance patent granted | US 12,556,388 B1, Security framework for artificial intelligence systems: dynamically changing keys to resist attempts to bypass a model's built-in constraints; filed 19 August 2024 on a May 2024 provisional. | [Google Patents (USPTO)](https://patents.google.com/patent/US12556388B1/en) |
| Dec 9, 2025 | Brex becomes the commercial-card provider | Multi-year partnership on Brex Embedded; $5.6 billion of annual card volume; Brex AI agents for clients. | [Fifth Third](https://onlinebanking.53.com/content/fifth-third/en/media-center/press-releases/2025/press-release-2025-12-09.html), [CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/09/fifth-third-bank-brex-commercial-cards-agreement.html) |
| Nov 25, 2025 | NLU patent granted | US 12,482,454 B2 issues from the 2023 application; inventors include Art Weston, the bank's AI transformation lead. | [Google Patents (USPTO)](https://patents.google.com/patent/US12482454B2/en) |
| Feb 13, 2025 | NLU training patent application published | US 2025/0054493 A1, Methods and systems for training and deploying natural language understanding models, filed 10 August 2023 by Fifth Third Bank, N.A. | [Google Patents (USPTO)](https://patents.google.com/patent/US20250054493A1/en) |
| Dec 4, 2024 | CIO: buy-partner-build, with Copilot at scale | Microsoft Copilot deployed to about 14,000 workers (about 5,000 daily users) and GitHub Copilot to about 450 engineers; humans stay in the loop and generative AI is not yet used with external customers. | [Fortune](https://fortune.com/2024/12/04/fifth-third-cio-ai-buy-rather-than-build/) |
| Jun 21, 2024 | Jeanie language-understanding overhaul and AI patent filings | Art Weston, director of AI transformation, says Jeanie's intent accuracy rose from about 25% to about 90% after the language-understanding algorithm (from chatbot provider LivePerson) was re-architected; Jeanie recognises 150 actions and about half were automated. He had applied for patents on the work and on gen-AI risks such as hallucination and jailbreaking. | [American Banker](https://americanbanker.com/news/overhauling-chatbots-harnessing-gen-ai-art-weston-fifth-third) |
| Jan 19, 2016 | NICE Actimize customer due diligence selected | NICE Actimize said Fifth Third had selected its Customer Due Diligence anti-money-laundering software and Core Risk Rating Engine to automate and centrally manage customer onboarding risk assessment (vendor release; no later update found). | [NICE (PR Newswire)](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nice-actimize-cdd-solution-selected-by-fifth-third-bancorp-for-its-customer-onboarding-risk-assessment-and-powerful-risk-rating-engine-565738381.html) |

## Common questions

### How many AI patents does Fifth Third have?

Three granted U.S. patents with an AI or machine-learning core are assigned to Fifth Third Bank, N.A.: US 12,482,454 B2 on training natural-language-understanding models (November 2025), US 12,556,388 B1 on a jailbreak-resistant security framework for AI systems (February 2026) and US 11,868,865 B1 on deep-learning cash-structuring monitoring (January 2024). A Google Patents assignee search in October 2026 found no other AI applications.

### Does Fifth Third have an AI research lab?

No public research lab, university centre or publication programme is on the record. AI work sits with a dedicated AI group under the CIO, which the CIO said in January 2025 covers generative AI and intelligent automation, and with AI scientists managed by senior vice president Jay Budzik across consumer products and central operations.

### Which AI model providers does Fifth Third use?

Named providers are Microsoft (Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot for staff) and LivePerson (the language-understanding layer Jeanie's overhaul built on, as of 2024). Anthropic invited the bank into Project Glasswing in 2026, but the bank has not said it uses Anthropic models in production. Brex's agents serve commercial card clients on Brex's platform. No frontier-model contract for customer-facing use has been announced.

### What is Fifth Third's relationship with Brex?

In December 2025 Fifth Third made Brex the provider of its commercial cards and expense-management tools in a multi-year partnership built on Brex Embedded, unlocking $5.6 billion of annual commercial card volume. Brex's AI agents capture receipts, match transactions, enforce spend policy and automate approvals. Banking Dive reported the program started as a pilot in one regional market and two card verticals.

### Why did Fifth Third invest in Payload?

Payload is a Cincinnati embedded-payments platform for multi-party payments such as real-estate earnest money, processing about $6 billion a year. Fifth Third made a strategic investment in August 2026, Payload's first significant outside capital, and will act as a partner as Payload builds bank and platform relationships. American Banker framed it as an extension of Newline's reach; the size was not disclosed.
## Deeper on Fifth Third

- [What is Fifth Third's AI strategy?](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/banks/fifth-third/ai-strategy)
- [What is Jeanie, and how does Fifth Third use AI in its virtual assistant?](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/banks/fifth-third/virtual-assistant)
- [How does Fifth Third use AI in payments?](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/banks/fifth-third/payments-ai)
- [What technology stack does Fifth Third run?](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/banks/fifth-third/technology-stack)


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