Jamie Dimon says JPMorgan will hire more AI braniacs, fewer bankers

Artificial intelligence is poised to drastically shrink the workforce at the nation’s largest bank, but the transition will happen without the pain of mass layoffs, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Thursday.In an interview in Shanghai, the renowned money man told Bloomberg that AI will make his employees vastly more productive.While the technology will ultimately reduce the need for certain jobs, Dimon said the bank will manage the shift through “natural attrition” — simply not filling the positions of the 25,000 to 30,000 workers who quit or retire each year.“There will be all different types of jobs, and I think we will be hiring more AI people and fewer bankers in certain categories, and it will make them more productive,” Dimon said.“I think it will reduce our jobs down the road.”Current employees whose roles become obsolete will be retrained or moved to new departments, he added.

The bank says it has over 300,000 employees worldwide.Dimon’s remarks highlight what appears to be a major shift on Wall Street.Financial giants are trading traditional suit-and-tie bankers for tech experts to handle everything from routine paperwork to advanced math.AI tools are expected to drastically reduce the staggering costs and manpower previously needed to maintain big financial institutions’ digital plumbing.At Goldman Sachs, Chief Operating Officer John Waldron is building what he calls a “digital factory floor.”He recently told CNBC the bank is using AI to automate the repetitive, behind-the-scenes chores of finance.He likened the shift to physical robots assembling cars.

By letting software run what was previously a “human assembly line,” Goldman employees can spend more time face-to-face with customers, Waldron said.The exec, widely seen by Goldmanites as the likely next CEO of the company, expects the bank’s total head count to remain steady as newly hired software engineers replace outdated roles.AI is also transforming the highest leve...