Huntington announces 1866 Studio AI platform for small businesses

Huntington describes The 1866 Studio as an AI-powered operating system built with the Gemini platform and Google Cloud’s AI platform.[1] The bank says it will bring business guidance, financial intelligence, digital tools and human expertise into one connected experience, aiming to simplify the complex, time-consuming work of starting and running a business.[1] The platform is intended to support businesses from idea through operation and growth, and eventually succession, sale or exit.[1] Huntington says the name refers to the year the bank was founded.[1]

For business formation, the platform supports steps from entity selection and registration through licensing and operational setup, while generating a customized action plan.[1] Huntington says multimodal Gemini models can generate tailored marketing materials, digital ad copy and social media campaigns.[1] For financing, AI agents are intended to help owners assess readiness by flagging gaps, explaining lender expectations and recommending steps to strengthen eligibility.[1] These features address different parts of a business journey, so owners can evaluate which tasks they want the platform to support.[1]

The 1866 Studio will initially be powered by eight trained AI agents, according to Banking Dive.[2] Standridge expects the number of agents and the complexity of their assigned tasks to grow.[2] Huntington says the platform will retain business context across tasks, allowing owners to coordinate decisions across separate tools while remaining in control.[1] It will also combine personalized expert content with an AI assistant for monitoring operations and finances and managing daily work.[1]

Huntington opened early-access signups on October 19 to small-business owners and entrepreneurs, including people who are not bank customers.[1] The bank says the platform is planned to launch later in 2026.[3] The announcement builds on a multi-year strategic partnership with Google Cloud focused on technology modernization, governed AI and faster innovation, according to Huntington.[1] Huntington describes helping businesses thrive as central to its purpose for more than 160 years.[1] A Google Cloud executive said Huntington is using Gemini platform and Gemini frontier models to help owners act on information.[1]