Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon says AI won’t destroy human jobs – ‘Yes, job functions will change… but I’m excited about that’

“Technology has had an impact on the number of employees, the way they work, and the number of workers you have, for decades and decades and decades,” Solomon He recently said on CNBC Squawk box. “One of the things that’s happening here that’s a little different is that this is moving at a faster pace. And because the pace is so fast, I think there’s potential for there to be more volatility or an unstable shift around certain job functions.”

This is not the first time that certain jobs have been I became redundant By introducing new technology into the workplace. But as Solomon pointed out, many of them simply changed their appearance. For example, 25 years ago at Goldman, it was… 225 billion dollars The bank did not have the huge pool of 13,000 engineers it has today. Looking to the future, the CEO predicted that the business mix of engineers and AI will continue to change again. However, he’s not entirely sad about what it means for his employees, the company and its customers.

“Ultimately, we have an incredibly resilient and nimble economy,” Solomon continued. “We have a great ability to adapt and adjust.” “Yes, there will be job functions that shift and change…but I’m excited about that. If you look out three to five years, it gives us more ability to invest in our business.”

luck I reached out to Goldman Sachs for comment.

CEOs assert that AI is just another technological revolution

The CEO of Goldman Sachs is not the only prominent business leader looking to capitalize on the gains of artificial intelligence. Although some Waving the red flag In the shadow of an Armageddon for white collar jobs, others assert that the shift will be like no other technological change in the past — something that will need to be embraced sooner rather than later.

“I can’t find a CEO I talk to, in any industry, who isn’t focused on how they can reimagine and automate processes in their business to achieve operational efficiency and productivity,” Solomon said.

Earlier this year, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang He said that the world “At the beginning of the AI ​​revolution,” he said, and that he could see the world shifting to a four-day work week. But as productivity improves thanks to advanced technology, business leaders will continue to come up with more revolutionary ideas, which will require a constant flow of work from humans. The way people do their jobs will change, but Huang doesn’t see AI leading to mass unemployment or the need for humans to live on a global high income.

“Every industrial revolution leads to some change in social behavior,” Huang said He said one day Fox Business network Claman countdown. “I have to admit I’m afraid to say we’ll be busier in the future than now.”

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Agreed with Huang, pointed to the Industrial Revolution in England as a prime example. The innovation caused a redistribution of work – which he admitted was a “scary word” – but ultimately led to the world changing its view of work, the leader said. Nadella said the AI ​​revolution will do the same: it will raise a societal challenge that can be solved with new business solutions.

Jobs already replaced by AI: customer service and programmers

The AI ​​race is well underway, and workers are already seeing jobs at risk of automation.

Customer service jobs have already been rapidly replaced; Earlier this year Sales force Cut 4000 of the rolesand Klarna’s automated chatbot now It operates 800 agents.

Entry-level roles on Wall Street are also at risk of automation. OpenAI Just recruit more More than 100 former investment bankers to train their own AI models to build financial models, which could ultimately automate hours of young workers’ responsibilities. This move comes after expectations that junior analysts in financial institutions He could be in danger It is dispensed by artificial intelligence, according to A New York Times Report from last year.

Other reports show that automation will be widespread across a large number of industries and professions. Jobs that They are the most affected Generative AI includes: interpreters and translators, historians, passenger attendants, salespeople, writers, and telephone operators. Meanwhile, other roles may be sheltering from the storm, particularly blue-collar jobs such as dredging operators, bridge and lock tenders, water treatment plant operators, and railroad track layers.