Between eating at downtown restaurants and sweating it out in business casual in New York City, Wall Street interns have long been expected to slog through menial tasks.
This summer’s classes are going in a different direction.
As banks race to incorporate AI into everything from market analysis to coding, many companies will train interns not just in the basics like Excel and accounting, but also in how to use generative AI tools and fact-check to handle the more mundane tasks that characterize internships. This year’s students will be expected to work with AI from day one, rather than avoid or hide it.
While there is disagreement over how AI will affect workforce numbers, with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon recently saying that there will likely be fewer banker jobs, and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon arguing in an op-ed that the promised jobs apocalypse has been overstated, there is a growing consensus that Wall Street jobs will look very different in the coming years.
At Ken Griffin’s hedge fund Citadel and market maker Citadel Securities, applicants were evaluated on their AI fluency and sound judgment during the hiring process.
Fabian Figgi, head of campus recruiting at Citadel Securities, said the firm expects this year’s “AI native” interns to take on “more meaningful responsibilities very early on, including jobs focused on applying AI to complex real-world problems.”
Internships are often the key to landing lucrative and competitive roles in investment banks, hedge funds, and private equity, and the internships themselves are highly selective. Last year, Citadel and Goldman Sachs accepted 0.4% and less than 1% of applicants, respectively, into their internship programs. AI could increase competition as young people change rapidly and compete for fewer available jobs.
“I think this is going to be one of the most exciting, challenging and exciting times to grow as a banker or in any other area of finance,” said Rahul Rekhi, president of Rogo, a startup focused on generative AI for finance. “Freshman class interns, pre-MBA analysts, and post-MBA associates will ride that wave.”
Interns need new skills
Last year, Wall Street executives were debating whether to let interns use AI, rather than how to help them use it. Companies are now viewing AI fluency as a key differentiator.
“We kind of left that conversation behind,” said Rachel Friedman, director of strategic operations at Logo. “That’s the biggest difference I’m seeing. Everyone is really focused on making sure their interns are trained in AI.”
This summer, that “learning” will often mean incorporating AI tools into orientation, said Chirag Saraiya, principal at Training the Street, which provides technical finance and business training. The company typically teaches two- or three-day training courses for interns during onboarding week, and this year it is integrating AI into its core programming.
“To be a successful banker, it used to be, ‘You need to know accounting, you need to know finance, you need to know Excel.’ I think being familiar with the tools is going to be a core skill. That’s kind of how we’re integrating AI tools into our summer delivery,” Saraiya said.
Saraiya and David Hebert, a professor at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business who leads the school’s investment banking workshop, believe it’s important for interns to learn fundamental skills such as building models and performing financial analysis. That knowledge, they say, will allow them to use AI tools more effectively.
David Haeberle said interns still need to know basic skills. Indiana University Kelley School of Business
But new important features are also emerging, such as agent management. Haeberle and Rekhi said the role of an intern may be more similar to that of a traditional associate, a mid-level employee who typically reviews the work of interns and analysts.
A new definition of success
The ability to validate work could be critical for this year’s class, and Saraiya said part of the training will focus on how to stress test output and effectively poke holes in AI’s analysis.
He worries that interns may assume the AI is correct and pass the work on to managers, who in turn may assume the AI is being closely scrutinized. According to Saraiya, without strong foundational skills, it is difficult to effectively check work. But banks have dealt with similar questions before, he added, as when junior staff transitioned from writing out analyzes with a pencil to consulting on online databases decades ago.
“I think the risks look different,” said Friedman, himself a former Jefferies analyst, of AI mistakes. “A young banker taking over an evil job? A long-standing problem.”
The issue of time is also an age-old issue, and AI may not really change much, at least for now. Saraiya said he doesn’t think AI will change the notoriously grueling banking hours, as it could change companies’ expectations of what interns can accomplish in a day. This is not yet a “lifestyle play.”
“If you don’t utilize tools to perform these tasks quickly, you may not be able to accomplish as much as your colleagues can, compared to your peers, and that will fundamentally harm you,” he said.
anxiety and opportunity
While many young people in and outside of the financial industry worry that AI will further hurt their chances of getting an entry-level job, those Business Insider spoke to said there are big opportunities for interns this year. Rekhi, president of Rogo, said that with AI, instead of hounding colleagues for hour-long conversations, they can instantly see the real deal. Saraiya said he can use his free time to gain insight into what the numbers he is calculating actually mean.
Jacqueline Arthur, global head of human capital management at Goldman Sachs, said this year’s interns will be able to bring value because they are already accustomed to using AI in their daily lives.
“So my advice to them is this: Bring your questions and your curiosity,” she said.
Heberle, who has taught students pursuing careers in finance for more than 30 years, said everyone from freshmen to graduates are feeling anxious. He believes the best people are those who find excitement in uncertainty and are always learning about the latest AI tools.
“It’s much more important than pure technical ability, it’s more about emotional intelligence,” he said. “We don’t need kids who can be good analysts, we need kids who can be good professionals in the long run, because they’re going to have to quit their analyst jobs soon.”
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