Goldman Sachs interns aren't worried about AI replacing them
With the rise of artificial intelligence tools, questions about whether the new technology will replace workers have been top of mind across industries, from finance to entertainment. But Goldman Sachs (GS) interns aren’t worried.
Nearly all — 93% — the latest class of the investment bank’s interns believe AI will enhance their work, rather than replace it, according to this year’s survey of over 2,100 interns.
The same share of interns said they used AI tools in their personal lives, up 7% from a year ago. They mainly use it for doing research, helping with writing, and checking code, the survey found.
Goldman, like many other banks, has embraced the tech within its organization. In June, the New York-based banking giant finished rolling out its first generative AI tool for code generation. It has taken on a slow and steady approach to integrating AI, after banning OpenAI’s popular chatbot, ChatGPT, last year. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Citigroup (C) are among the other banks that took that step when the chatbot craze took hold last year.
Executives across the finance world have touted the potential benefits they could reap from AI by doing away with much of the day-to-day busy work. Goldman chief David Solomon said on a call with analysts in April that there are “enormous opportunities for productivity gains and also opportunities for efficiency” from AI.
In particular, AI has the ability to do much of the grunt work for employees across business units, including code developers, analysts, consultants. At Morgan Stanley (MS), for example, an AI assistant it introduced in July transcribes and summarizes client meetings and drafts emails.
Vince Lumia, head of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management client segments, said in a statement that the tool “drives immense efficiency in an advisors’ day-to-day, allowing more time to spend on meaningful engagement with their clients.”
While Goldman interns may not be replaced by AI, the technology might do their job better than them. Early results from a forthcoming study suggest that Large Language Models (LLMs), AI that’s trained to understand and generate content, like ChatGPT, are able to outperform some financial analysts in “predicting the direction of future earnings.”
Almost one-third of the Goldman interns surveyed (which accounted for more than 80% of this year’s 2,600 member cohort) said AI will have the most profound global impact over the next 10 years. That’s followed by geopolitical tensions and climate change.
But 88% of the interns believe the technology will have a net positive impact on society.
That view is also in line with claims business leaders have made over the past year. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in his annual letter to shareholders this year that AI could be as transformational as the “printing press, the steam engine, electricity, computing and the Internet.”
