Columbus, Ohio, October 19th / PRNewswire / -- On Monday, Huntington National Bank ("Huntington") announced the launch of The 1866 Studio, which is an operating system built on the AI platform based on Google Cloud. This product, named after the year of its establishment in Huntington, aims to integrate business guidance, financial intelligence, digital tools, and professional human support into a cohesive experience to serve aspiring entrepreneurs and existing small business owners.
The 1866 Studio aims to simplify the complex and time-consuming requirements involved in founding and running a business. This operating system will provide business owners with agentic AI workflows in finance, operations, and management, helping to streamline complex tasks and facilitating users to move from information acquisition to intelligent decision-making and then to actual action. By maintaining relevant business context between different tasks, The 1866 Studio it enables business owners to coordinate decisions across tools while retaining control, adapting to changing needs.
Huntington Bank President Brant Standridge states: "Small businesses are crucial to a strong community and a robust economy. Helping businesses grow has always been at the core of Huntington's mission for over 160 years. We have been constantly seeking new ways to assist business owners in facing challenges, seizing opportunities, and allowing them to spend more time focusing on the financial success and growth of their businesses. The 1866 Studio represents the next phase of this commitment; it combines the professional capabilities of Huntington with Gemini platform to help business owners make smarter decisions and devote more time to building the businesses they envision."
The 1866 Studio will leverage the rich expertise in small business and finance of Huntington, as well as the AI experience built on the comprehensive platform of Google Cloud, to build, expand, govern, and optimize agents. Combined with the multi-modal Gemini model of Google, Gemini is helping Huntington to provide business owners with an intelligent, interconnected operating system, enabling them to make decisions with greater confidence and efficiency.
Huntington Innovation and AI Product Leader Vijay Konduru states: "Small business owners should not have to become experts in every functional area or AI aspect in order to build a successful business. The 1866 Studio is a platform designed around the 'tasks to be completed' for small businesses. As the product evolves, its goal is to support an increasingly wide range of tasks throughout the business lifecycle, from turning an idea into a business, to managing and expanding it, and ultimately preparing for succession, sale, or exit."
Google Cloud General Manager of Financial Services and Managing Director Rohit Bhat stated: "The future of small business banking lies in providing professional knowledge and guidance at the moments when customers need it most. By utilizing 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."
Loan preparation support: Agents driven by AI can help business owners assess their financing readiness, identify potential gaps, explain the expectations of lending institutions, and suggest actions that can enhance future financing eligibility.
Vijay Konduru added, "The agentic and AI workflows that assist in task execution are just a part of this end-to-end operating system. Complementing these are related personalized expert contents, as well as a AI assistant that helps business owners monitor their business operations and financial status, and manage and coordinate daily tasks. By integrating these capabilities, business owners can maintain control while receiving evolving support throughout the business development process, moving from suggestions to action."
The 1866 Studio Built on years of strategic partnership between Huntington and Google Cloud, this initiative aims to modernize technology, enhance governed AI capabilities, and accelerate innovation. Through this collaboration, Huntington continues to explore how to use technology built upon Google Cloud to improve the experience for its customers, colleagues, as well as the communities and enterprises it serves.
Small business owners and entrepreneurs interested in participating, not limited to Huntington customers, can sign up from October 19th to obtain early access to The 1866 Studio.
Please visit Huntington.com / The1866Studio to register for early access to The 1866 Studio.
About Huntington
Huntington Bancshares Incorporated is a regional bank holding company with an asset scale of $284 billion, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. As one of the top ten full-service commercial banks in the United States, The Huntington National Bank and its affiliates provide a comprehensive range of banking, payment, wealth management, and risk management products and services to consumers, small and medium-sized businesses, corporations, municipal institutions, and other organizations. Huntington was established in 1866 and operates over 1,400 branches in 21 states, with some of its services available nationwide. For more information, please visit Huntington.com.
