Commonwealth Bank Appoints Mary-Anne Williams as Its First Chief AI Scientist

Commonwealth Bank appointed Professor Mary-Anne Williams as its first Chief AI Scientist on May 18, 2026, creating a role that does not yet exist at any other Australian bank and bringing one of the country's most internationally recognized AI researchers directly into the institution's executive leadership.

Williams joins from the University of New South Wales, where she holds the Michael J Crouch Chair for Innovation, founded and leads the UNSW Business AI Lab, and serves as Deputy Director of the UNSW AI Institute.

She is a Fellow at Stanford University and a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, one of the peak international bodies for AI research, giving her a research profile that places her among a small group of academics with both frontier AI expertise and practical application experience across business, government, and society.

"CommBank has built one of the most advanced AI capabilities of any bank in the world, and I'm excited to be joining at such a pivotal moment," Williams said. "My focus will be on advancing our understanding of the societal implications of AI and supporting continued responsible AI innovation across CommBank."