Goldman Sachs' chief information officer (CIO) has said that the firm is exploring the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies internally to aid in its engineers' ability to autonomously produce and test code.
AI Usage in Goldman Sachs
In a report by CNBC on Tuesday, Mar. 21, CIO Marco Argenti said that the organization's software developers had been utilizing the technology to write lines of code automatically. He clarified that the code is still in the "proof of concept" phase and not yet suitable for mass production.
"Developers are already using some of the assisted coding technology," Argenti told CNBC on Tuesday at the Goldman Sachs technology summit. Argenti is a partner at Goldman Sachs who moved to the company from Amazon in 2019.
He claims that in certain circumstances, as much as 40% of a developer's code may be generated automatically using generative AI. He confirmed that the firm is utilizing the tools for both testing and creating code.
In response to a request for comment, Argenti did not reveal which generative AI tools the firm had been utilizing. He was also vague about which branch of the bank is using the tech.
Argenti acknowledged, "It's still very early," but he likened the progress of generative AI to "the beginning of the internet."
Argenti stressed that AI should not be seen as a threat to the jobs of software engineers but rather as a tool to enhance their efficiency. Not all critical workloads should be moved there right now, but "the imperative is to really try to understand the potential," he said.
Argenti said that for 40 years, AI has been one of the biggest disruptions he has ever seen. He said it is on the same scale as the web, smartphones, and the cloud, if not larger.
Emergence of AI
Products that employ generative AI mimic human creativity when responding to user input in the form of text or visuals.
One of the most well-known generative AI tools is ChatGPT, a chatbot created by Sam Altman's OpenAI. Stable Diffusion, an AI-based picture generator developed by the firm Stability AI, and Google's Bard are two competing solutions.
Even though some of the biggest names in banking have voiced opposition to the usage of ChatGPT internally, Goldman Sachs is still showing interest in generative AI solutions. Firms such as JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Bank of America have allegedly banned their employees from utilizing the software.
The financial services industry may still be in for a major upheaval if ChatGPT and similar technologies gain traction. For instance, AI might seize the reigns when it comes to deciding which investment choices to make, and it could also automate numerous customer support tasks.
Notably, Goldman Sachs has made significant investments in recent years to transform the bank into a technology-focused organization. Initially released in the US in 2016, Marcus is a consumer-oriented digital bank that was expanded to the UK in 2018.
