The Huntington National Bank introduced a new AI-powered operating system built with Google Cloud’s Gemini AI platform.
The system, called the 1866 Studio, was named for the year Huntington was founded. The 1866 Studio honors the bank’s legacy of empowering businesses by bringing together guidance, financial intelligence, digital tools and human expertise into a single, connected experience for small business owners.
The 1866 Studio is designed to simplify the often complex and time-consuming demands of starting and running a business.
“We are continually looking for new ways to help business owners navigate challenges, seize opportunities and spend more time focused on the financial success and growth of their businesses. The 1866 Studio is the next evolution of that commitment, bringing together Huntington’s expertise and Gemini platform to help owners make more informed decisions and spend more time building the businesses they imagined,” Brant Standridge, president of Huntington Bank, said.
The 1866 Studio will leverage Huntington’s small business and financial expertise along with an AI-powered experience built using Google’s platform to build, scale, govern and optimize agents. Combined with Google’s Gemini models, the platform allows Huntington to offer business owners an intelligent, connected operating system that helps them navigate decisions with greater confidence and efficiency.
“The future of small business banking is about delivering expertise and guidance in the moments customers need it most,” Rohit Bhat, general manager and managing director, Financial Services, Google Cloud, said. “By using Gemini platform and Gemini frontier models to build The 1866 Studio, Huntington is creating an innovative experience that helps small business owners move from information to action.”
Initial AI capabilities, including agentic workflows, equip entrepreneurs to turn business ideas into actionable plans, navigate startup requirements, strengthen their brand, identify funding sources, enable funding readiness and plan for growth. Specifically, the platform can help with:
- Business launch support: With built-in AI agents, owners can navigate the steps required to start a business, from entity selection and registration to licensing and operational setup, while generating a customized action plan to help move from idea to launch.
- Marketing and campaign creation: Leveraging multimodal Gemini models, owners can instantly generate tailored marketing collateral, digital ad copy and social media campaigns.
- Loan readiness assistance: AI-powered agents help owners evaluate financing readiness by identifying potential gaps, explaining lender expectations and recommending actions that can strengthen eligibility for future financing opportunities.
“Agentic AI workflows that help carry out tasks are one part of this end-to-end operating system,” Vijay Konduru, head of innovation and AI products at Huntington, said. “Alongside them are relevant, personalized expert content and an AI assistant that helps owners both monitor their business operations and finances and manage and orchestrate daily work.”
The 1866 Studio builds on Huntington’s multi-year strategic partnership with Google Cloud to modernize technology, advance AI capabilities and accelerate innovation.
Interested small business owners and entrepreneurs, not limited to Huntington customers, can sign up now for early access to the 1866 Studio.