Jamie Dimon Predicts AI Will Be as Transformational as Electricity

Billionaire Jamie Dimon is all in on artificial intelligence.

The JPMorgan Chase CEO and executive chairman touted the potential of the emerging technology in a letter to shareholders Monday. As innovations in AI take the world by storm, big banks are moving quickly to avoid leaving potentially billions on the table or falling behind their competitors. Teresa Heitsenrether, JPMorgan Chase’s chief data and analytics officer, oversees adoption of AI across the company.

“While we do not know the full effect or the precise rate at which AI will change our business — or how it will affect society at large — we are completely convinced the consequences will be extraordinary and possibly as transformational as some of the major technological inventions of the past several hundred years: Think the printing press, the steam engine, electricity, computing and the Internet, among others,” Dimon wrote in his shareholder letter. As the top executive at the largest U.S. bank, Dimon’s commentary frequently sets the tone for others in the banking sector.

In his letter, Dimon mentioned AI first among the issues facing the company, alongside the bank’s migration to cloud computing, its acquisition of First Republic Bank, and geopolitical turmoil. He noted that JPMorgan Chase has been using predictive AI and machine learning for years and now has more than 400 possible uses in areas such as marketing, fraud, and risk. The bank, he wrote, is also “exploring the potential” of generative AI in software engineering, customer service, operations, and employee productivity, and plans to implement the technology in a “safe responsible way,” he added.

All of this comes with a cost. As for how much the bank is spending on AI, president and chief operating officer Daniel Pinto told Nikkei Asia in August that it plans to invest $1 billion or more per year into the technology. CNBC reported that JPMorgan Chase invests $12 billion annually into technologies that include AI. In his letter, Dimon said that many AI projects “pay for themselves.” 

As in any industry, AI is likely to impact banking employees, as well. Dimon said he believes the technology is likely to “augment virtually every job,” as well as reduce some roles and lead to the creation of others. Dimon also said the bank will “aggressively retrain and redeploy” existing talent. The McKinsey Global Institute estimated that generative AI alone could add $200 billion to $340 billion in value annually to the global banking sector, mostly as a result of increased productivity. 

JPMorgan Chase isn’t the only bank scrambling to make use of the technology. The bank topped Evident’s 2023 AI Index that ranked banks by AI maturity, followed closely by Capital One, Royal Bank of Canada, Wells Fargo, and UBS.