Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon remembers what life before AI was like and uses it to expand his banking rank over the next decade.
Speaking to Bloomberg journalist Tom Mackenzie in Italy on Friday, Solomon said AI has the distinctive character that it can increase the company's staffing and cannot reduce it over the next decade.
“I started 42 years ago and when I wanted to see five different companies and think about how to compare transactions between five different companies, I had to go to the library, so I had to go to the microfish. Now you can just 'speak to your phone', he said.
It's a glimpse into the kind of high-tech world that Solomon wants to create for his banker. The company spent about $6 billion on Tech this year, the CEO noted, saying he hoped it was more.
“When you think about Goldman Sachs and the value it brings to our clients, that value really unfolds within three different things: people, capital and technology,” Solomon said. He added that the technology “allows smart, talented, ambitious and sophisticated people,” providing better information access and enhanced analysis. This is a look at Solomon's powerful AI vision for banks, from personnel to investment trends.
personnel
Ten years from now, “I think we'll run a much larger company,” he said. “Obviously, we're going to have far fewer people, but I want more people to have the ability to spend time with clients.”
“I think we can continue to use these tools to continue serving a wider range of clients and these capabilities are integrated into the company,” he said. “If the company is the same size and doesn't grow, we certainly run with fewer people. But if the company grows, you can expand and invest in other areas for growth, you'll get a job 10 years from today.”
Goldman employs around 46,000 people. It also boasts a workforce of around 12,000 engineers reporting to the company's Chief Information Officer, Marco Argenti. He recently spoke to Business Insider about his own vision for the company's AI future.
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Increases coder productivity
Solomon said the $6 billion the company spends on tech this year has actually said “we have eight people, but we can't afford it because we have to deliver returns.”
He suggested that the most direct impact he suggested would come in software development. “For example, using tools like Devin from Cognition Labs, one great coder actually creates the massive coding capabilities of one coder, as opposed to 10 or 20 people sitting for several days.
Goldman also deployed its own internal AI assistant to all employees this summer.
Winner, Loser, and “ai bubble”
When asked if the AI boom could produce a bubble that would burst, Solomon recalls saying “yes” or “no”, but some admit that they have the advantage and others will remain carrying the bag.
“I'm sure you'll have a lot of winners at the end of the film and there will be a lot of losers,” he said. “In the end, deployed capital is deployed that provides a very attractive return, and many of the capital deployed may not provide a return.”
“They're excited, so people are on the risk curve,” he added. “And when they're excited, they tend to think about good things that can go right, and they reduce the chances of reducing what you should be skeptical of.”
