Braca Cohen has a front row seat to Wall Street’s AI revolution and how young people can compete in it.
“In a world where AI is so transforming, I would tell the new generation of graduates to develop not just skills, but judgment,” said Cohen, a partner in the wealth and asset management engineering department. “AI may automate execution, but it cannot completely replace decision-making, systems thinking, and ethical reasoning.”
Mr. Cohen joined Goldman in 1994 as a programmer. This was long before applications needed to prove AI fluency. She said serving in a variety of roles across business lines helped her rise to partner at the firm. Top leaders.
Her wealth management engineering team is currently focused on automating operations to help grow the business, including through AI. The fast-growing business, which currently has a record $3.6 trillion in assets, uses AI for day-to-day tasks such as analyzing and summarizing data, Cohen said.
As white-collar hiring slows and concerns about AI in junior roles increase, young engineers should focus more on how systems work rather than simply completing tasks, Cohen said. She said it was important to master the fundamentals of engineering because AI should act “as a lever, not as a crutch.”
Bracha Cohen is a partner and engineer at Goldman Sachs. goldman sachs
He added that computer science students should practice assessing risk and formulating appropriate questions for both other people and AI models. Two other Goldman partners have also previously said that interpersonal skills and communication are becoming increasingly important in the AI workplace.
And engineers who specifically want to work on AI have their own criteria. Dan Popescu, Goldman’s newly promoted managing director and head of asset management AI engineering, previously told Business Insider that the most competitive hires will need a set of skills, including knowledge of AI engineering, finance and traditional software engineering.
Goldman spent $6 billion on technology last year, deploying internal AI tools that include assistants and a limited number of banker co-pilots. In an October memo, the company described the latest phase of its OneGS initiative, which it says will improve efficiencies, slow hiring and lead to “limited reductions” in roles.
CEO David Solomon is one of several large banking leaders to say that AI won’t reduce headcount in the long term and that the company needs to focus on acquiring higher quality talent.
