Goldman Sachs CEO: AI Is NOT a Job Killer for Banking
- Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon argues AI enhances bankers’ productivity instead of eliminating jobs
- Higher productivity and business growth from AI encourage banks to hire more high-value, AI-skilled staff
- In check processing, AI boosts automated read accuracy above 99%, freeing staff for revenue-generating work
It is no secret that, as society innovates and adopts new technologies, many industries see major boosts in productivity. Unfortunately, this can come at the cost of jobs for individuals. However, there are reports that AI could bring on the largest elimination of jobs -- attracting the attention of the US Government.
However, in a recent article from Axios, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon notes that "AI isn't a job killer for bankers."
Boosting Productivity of the Work Force
According to Solomon, the fear is mostly overblown by the media. AI should be seen as a multiplier, as it increases work force productivity.
"There is no question that when you put these tools in the hands of smart people, it increases their productivity," Solomon said in an exclusive interview ahead of this week's 10,000 Small Businesses Summit in Washington. "You're going to see changes in the way analysts, associates and investment bankers work."
Solomon further notes that the boost in productivity and business growth enables companies to add more "high value" people. Indeed, many companies -- including financial institutions -- are actively recruiting more workers that have the skills to implement and deploy AI technologies, replacing many legacy processes and technologies.
AI in Check Payments
Checks are not going away. Even with initiatives from the US Government to eliminate check payments, we can see that checks are engrained in society and will persist.
However, AI enables financial institutions and their employees to be more productive. Prior to the introduction of AI for check processing, financial institutions were seeing read rates between 80-85%. This means that nearly 2 out of every 10 checks required manual intervention to reconcile. While numbers will vary, even at lower volume levels, this would equate to tens of thousands of checks needing manual review and data entry.
However, AI technologies have streamlined this process, achieving over 99% read rates and 99.5% accuracy rates. Rather than having employees devote time and resources to this manual task, the workforce can focus on revenue generating endeavors.
Furthermore, analysts are seeing major boosts in productivity in other departments as AI technologies like image forensics are able to analyze thousands of on-us checks and check deposits to flag suspicious items for review. And, as the technologies continue to learn, the number of false positives will continue to decrease as well -- enabling analysts to focus on and review potential truly fraudulent items.
So, is the fear of AI replacing humans overhyped? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.