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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Synchrony’s AI strategy has two connected tracks: using AI to reshape how consumers discover financing and rewards through digital commerce, and using generative AI, advanced models and agents inside the company. Synchrony is a consumer-financing and banking provider whose business depends on merchant partnerships, so its transformation is focused on checkout, offers, servicing, underwriting, fraud prevention and the work that supports those activities—not on becoming a general-purpose retail bank.
What Synchrony means by digital transformation
Synchrony describes two transformations happening at the same time. The first is agentic commerce: shopping experiences in which AI helps people find products, compare offers, select financing and complete transactions. The second is AI at work: applying generative AI, advanced models and software agents across customer and merchant experience, marketing, product development, coding and other enterprise functions.
That distinction matters for consumers. A better search or checkout experience may be visible in an app or partner site, while much of the operational change happens behind the scenes in servicing, risk decisions, software development and marketing. Synchrony says both tracks are intended to make its digital channels and merchant relationships more useful, while maintaining customer choice and trust.
How AI is changing Synchrony’s customer-facing commerce
Marketplace and Joy Hunt
Synchrony Marketplace is the company’s digital shopping environment. Its AI search capability, Joy Hunt, is designed to help users discover relevant products and offers rather than relying only on conventional keyword navigation. The 2025 annual-report letter places this work in a broader effort to meet customers wherever commerce occurs: in stores, on product pages, in search results, digital wallets and merchant-partner apps.
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Synchrony reported that improvements across its website, native app and Marketplace contributed to an 18% increase in total visits and 17% more sales during 2025. Those are company-reported, aggregate results. The letter does not isolate the effect of Joy Hunt or any other AI feature, so the figures should not be read as proof that AI alone caused the growth.
A Synchrony Agent in development
The same annual-report letter says Synchrony is building a Synchrony Agent within Marketplace. The company presents it as part of a move toward agentic commerce, in which software can assist with product discovery, financing and other steps in a purchase journey. The source describes development work, not a fully launched service with established consumer availability.
Financing, rewards and loyalty in AI-native shopping
On August 17, 2026, Synchrony announced an enterprise collaboration with OpenAI. The announcement says Synchrony plans to deploy OpenAI models and tools across its enterprise and describes a ChatGPT experience where consumers could discover offers from participating Synchrony partners. It also says the companies aim to bring financing, rewards and loyalty into AI-native shopping and checkout while preserving merchant and consumer choice.
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These statements describe an announced collaboration and intended deployments. They do not establish that every planned model, ChatGPT experience or checkout capability was available to all customers on the announcement date. Synchrony’s announcement also identifies future commerce outcomes as subject to uncertainty.
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AI at work inside the enterprise
Where Synchrony says employees are using AI
Synchrony’s AI-at-work program spans customer and merchant experience, marketing, products, capabilities, coding and software development. In its 2025 annual-report letter, the company said adoption of generative AI tools had reached 95% among exempt employees as of early 2026. In the August 2026 Chief AI Officer announcement, Synchrony separately said that nearly 100% of its professional workforce had used AI tools, including Synchrony GPT, since 2024.
Those statements use different populations and reporting descriptions. They should not be combined into one workforce-adoption series or treated as independently audited measurements. The August announcement also reported that 90% of employees trusted Synchrony to use AI fairly, ethically and responsibly; that is an employee-trust measure reported by the company, not an external assessment.
What the internal applications could change
- Employee productivity: assistants and agents can support research, drafting, coding and routine analysis.
- Customer and merchant service: AI can help employees find information and respond more consistently across financing and account-support workflows.
- Product and marketing work: models can help teams develop offers, content and capabilities for digital-first merchant partners.
- Software delivery: coding tools may shorten parts of development and testing, although speed still requires review and controls.
Synchrony CEO Brian Doubles described the intended balance this way: “That’s why we’re pairing innovation and speed with clear governance, and investing in upskilling so our teams can use these tools confidently and responsibly.” The statement establishes a stated operating approach, not proof that every control or workflow is effective in practice.
Agentic commerce and AI at work: different execution tests
| Transformation track | Primary question | What Synchrony has reported | What remains unestablished |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI at work | Can employees use AI to improve service, product development and operations safely? | Generative-AI adoption figures for specified employee populations; a program covering customer, merchant, marketing, product and coding work; governance and upskilling as stated priorities. | Independent evidence of productivity, quality, customer outcomes or the effectiveness of model-risk controls. |
| Agentic commerce | Can AI help people discover offers, choose financing and complete purchases without weakening choice or trust? | Joy Hunt in Marketplace; development of a Synchrony Agent; work with Mastercard, Visa, Google, AI providers and major retailers on standards; an announced OpenAI collaboration. | Broad availability, consumer adoption, interoperability, security results and whether planned experiences outperform existing channels. |
Digital-wallet growth and what it does—and does not—show
Synchrony’s 2025 annual-report letter says it more than doubled both unique digital-wallet accounts and digital-wallet sales compared with the prior year. The letter also reports the 18% visit increase and 17% sales increase cited above. These metrics indicate stronger digital-channel activity during the stated period, but they do not provide a controlled comparison showing how much AI contributed versus app redesigns, Marketplace improvements, partner activity, marketing or other factors.
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For consumers, the practical implication is that Synchrony is investing in the places where a purchase and financing decision increasingly meet: merchant apps, wallets, search and checkout. The metrics do not guarantee that an individual customer will receive a particular AI feature or a better credit outcome.
Who is responsible for the AI agenda?
Synchrony has announced several leaders with distinct remits:
- Carol Juel, EVP and CEO of Synchrony’s Digital platform: announced June 29, 2026, with responsibility for innovation, customer experience and consumer-financing capabilities for digital-first partners.
- Florin Arghirescu, EVP and Chief Technology Officer: responsible for enterprise technology strategy and execution, including the AI agenda.
- Nimrod Barak, Chief AI Officer: announced in August 2026, responsible for enterprise AI strategy, governance and execution.
The announcements define these areas of responsibility but do not fully describe how decision rights overlap among the digital, technology and AI functions. It is therefore more accurate to report each remit as announced than to infer a formal hierarchy.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Governance, trust and employee preparation
Synchrony repeatedly frames trust as a condition of its AI strategy. Doubles wrote, “At the core of these transformations is trust, and we work hard to earn it in everything we do.” The company says governance and employee upskilling accompany its push for speed, and Barak’s remit explicitly includes AI governance.
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For a consumer-finance company, governance has practical stakes: customer data, credit decisions, fraud controls, marketing claims, privacy, explainability and the security of payment and account information. The materials available for this article do not provide a complete technical description of Synchrony’s model testing, monitoring, human-review thresholds or audit results. Governance is a declared priority, not independently validated effectiveness.
What Synchrony had already reported in 2018
Synchrony’s October 22, 2018 AI-transformation release provides historical context, not current performance. It described AI and machine learning in credit underwriting and fraud prevention, the Sydney virtual assistant for cardholders, and robotic process automation.
- Synchrony said Sydney reduced live-chat volume by more than 50%.
- It reported a 50% reduction in cycle time for one treasury forecasting and operations process.
Both figures were company-reported claims from 2018. They should not be presented as current Sydney performance, current product availability or evidence that today’s systems deliver the same results.
What customers and merchant partners should watch next
For customers
- Whether AI-assisted discovery clearly identifies financing terms, rewards conditions and participating merchants.
- Whether customers can decline recommendations or complete a purchase through a non-agent path.
- How Synchrony explains data use, security and human support when an automated system is involved.
For merchant partners
- How offers and financing appear in AI-mediated search and checkout.
- What participation, branding, data-sharing and approval controls apply to agentic experiences.
- Whether integrations work consistently across wallets, partner apps and emerging industry standards.
Synchrony says it is working with Mastercard, Visa, Google, leading AI providers and major retailers on standards for agentic commerce. That is reported industry work, not proof that a common standard or market-wide interoperability has already been completed.
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Synchrony is treating AI as an enterprise and commerce transformation rather than a single chatbot launch. Marketplace features such as Joy Hunt, the planned Synchrony Agent and the announced OpenAI collaboration target how customers discover and finance purchases; internal AI tools target how employees build products, serve customers and run operations. The company reports meaningful digital growth and high employee adoption, but those figures are company-reported and do not establish AI-only causation or independently verified effectiveness. The most important test will be whether Synchrony can deliver useful, choice-preserving experiences while making its governance, availability and customer protections as clear as its AI ambitions.
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