Jamie Dimon, CEO of America's largest bank, in China: To reduce our jobs down the road, we will hire fewer ...

JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon has said artificial intelligence will likely reduce some banking jobs in the future, with JPMorgan Chase expected to hire fewer traditional bankers as automation expands across the financial industry. Speaking during a Bloomberg Television interview at the bank’s China Summit in Shanghai, Dimon said AI would change the kinds of jobs banks need rather than simply eliminating work altogether. His comments come as major global banks increasingly turn to AI to improve productivity, reduce costs and automate several back-office operations.


“I think it will reduce our jobs down the road,” Dimon said in the interview with Bloomberg. “There will be all different types of jobs, and I think we will be hiring more AI people and fewer bankers in certain categories, and it will make them more productive.”


Dimon said the shift toward AI could largely be managed through normal employee turnover instead of large-scale layoffs. According to Bloomberg, JPMorgan sees annual attrition of around 10%, equal to roughly 25,000 to 30,000 employees leaving every year. That, Dimon said, gives the bank room to retrain workers, move them into different roles or offer early retirement packages.

Rising debate on impact of AI on jobs

The comments add to a growing debate inside the banking sector about AI’s impact on jobs. Earlier this week, Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters said the bank would replace “lower-value human capital” with technology as part of plans to remove 8,000 support roles over the next four years.


Goldman Sachs President John Waldron recently described traditional back-office work as a “human assembly line” that could be automated. Meanwhile, HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery said AI would “destroy” certain jobs while also creating new ones.


Despite concerns about automation, Dimon defended Winters, saying his comments were “an inartful way to say something.” “I think it will be old jobs. If back-office jobs disappear, we need more front office jobs to cover more clients,” Dimon said.


He also warned that the pace of change needs to be managed carefully. “I think it’s incumbent upon us, society, to think through if it happens too fast,” he added.