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- Goldman Sachs CEO said that AI means the bank needs to invest in "high-value" employees.Solomon said AI will raise head count, but a recent memo mentioned a small reduction in some roles.The bank spent around $6 billion on technology this year.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said that AI doesn't mean he's looking for fewer employees — just better employees.
"We need more high-value people," he told Axios. "We can afford more high-value people to expand our footprint and continue to grow and broaden our business."
The technology, Solomon said, will inevitably change how analysts, associates, and investment bankers do their jobs, making productive people more productive. Solomon reiterated his belief that the technology will grow the firm's headcount over the next ten years.
Earlier this month, however, Goldman introduced its OneGS 3.0 in a memo to employees, and said it will implement a "limited reduction in roles" as part of the AI-driven revamp. The bank will also restrict its head count growth through the end of the year, the memo said. A spokesperson for Goldman previously told Business Insider that the company expects to end this year with a net increase in head count. Its global workforce grew 5% to around 48,000 people, according to its third-quarter earnings.
Solomon said at a conference in early October that Goldman spent $6 billion on technology this year, and that he expects the bank will eventually be "a much bigger enterprise."
"There are obviously things where we're going to have a lot fewer people — but I'd love to have the capacity to go get more people to spend time with clients," Solomon said at the conference. Goldman employs some 12,000 technologists, and Solomon said he expects AI to have the most immediate impact on software development.
Solomon also told CNBC's "Squawk Box" last week that the speed at which AI is developing could lead to more "volatility" around certain job functions, adding that the "mix of engineers with this technology will again shift and change" in the near future.
AI is transforming work on Wall Street, with banks, private equity firms, hedge funds, and asset managers investing big in the technology. Solomon spoke to Axios ahead of Goldman Sachs' 10,000 Small Businesses Summit in Washington, DC, which Business Insider will be attending.
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