Mizuho to train sales, office staff as AI engineers in 3 months

Mizuho Financial Group Inc., one of Japan's three largest banks, has announced plans to train sales and administrative staff as artificial intelligence engineers in a three-month program set to launch next month. Dubbed the Mizuho AI Bootcamp, the initiative aims to expedite the creation of business systems tailored to on-the-ground challenges by leveraging the financial industry knowledge and experience of reskilled employees.

Traditionally, training employees without technical backgrounds to become AI engineers can take approximately one and a half years. However, Mizuho believes that the use of AI to develop systems can significantly shorten this process.

A pilot program launched in June saw all five participating employees, some of whom had no programming experience, meet the required standards and transition into engineering positions in September. Beginning in November, the program will expand to include 20 employees, with a goal of training 100 in the near term.

The bank has not yet finalized the details of the salary system for these positions. As AI adoption continues to grow across the financial sector, the competition for specialized talent has intensified. At the same time, the increasing use of AI in sales, administrative, and planning departments is reducing working hours and necessitating the redeployment of employees to new roles. This is prompting companies to intensify their reskilling efforts.