Starling Bank's Deputy CIO On Using AI For Coding, Learning New Subjects, And Stress-Testing His Own Thinking
Computer Weekly, Friday, September 4th, 2026
CIO Interview: Frederic Laurent, Deputy CIO, Starling Bank
Computer Weekly interviews Frederic Laurent, deputy CIO at Starling Bank, about how he applies AI both personally and professionally. Laurent describes AI as an exceptional educational tool, using models to explain unfamiliar concepts in simple terms while always requesting references because models can hallucinate.
He uses Google's NotebookLM to build an outsourced memory from articles and research papers that he can query directly.
Laurent also submits problems to AI to surface alternative perspectives, then asks the model to contradict its own answer as a check. He argues that anyone claiming AI has not changed how they work has missed the boat.