AI Summary
5 min readDavid Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, wrote a New York Times op-ed arguing that the AI job apocalypse is overblown, and in this conversation he explains why. He is “hugely, hugely optimistic” about AI’s potential to drive productivity and economic growth over a five-to-ten-year horizon, but he insists the technology will not lead to mass unemployment or universal basic income. His core argument is historical: technology disruptions have always shifted the nature of work rather than eliminated it, and this time is not different.
What a Job Actually Is
Solomon pushes back on the narrative that AI will wipe out white-collar jobs by questioning what people mean by “a job.” He points to a Stanford statistic showing a 16% decline in entry-level hiring in certain industries and argues it is a misleading lens. That figure only tracks a narrow set of professional roles, ignoring the vast range of careers people actually pursue — from electricians to entrepreneurs to schoolteachers. “There are so many different things you can do,” he says. The real goal, he argues, is to be a lifelong learner who figures out what you are passionate about and how to support yourself, not to fit a narrow definition of a “good job.”
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **Episode Introduction & AI in Banking Context** - Hosts Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal set up why banks are the perfect lens for AI disruption: big tech budgets, a cross-section of white-collar jobs, and the "bank as a tech company" era.
- 2 (04:39) **David Solomon's Motivation for the Op-Ed** - Solomon explains why he wrote the NYT op-ed "I'm the CEO of Goldman Sachs, the AI Job Apocalypse Is Overblown."
- 3 (07:56) **The Value of Human Relationships & Cold Calling** - Solomon reflects on his early career, from a brutal cold-calling internship to becoming a "big producer" at Bear Stearns.
- 4 (14:17) **The Future of Junior Analysts & Apprenticeship** - Solomon addresses how AI might change the role of junior bankers, who traditionally do work AI can now automate.
- 5 (21:33) **Hiring Trends & The "2022 Bloat"** - Solomon discusses how AI is subtly changing hiring allocations, but warns against reading too much into post-pandemic data.
- 6 (24:57) **Measuring Productivity Gains at Goldman** - Solomon explains how the bank measures the impact of AI beyond simple headcount reduction.
- 7 (27:04) **The Data Problem: Clean Data vs. "Garbage In, Garbage Out"** - Solomon discusses the challenge of using AI with unstructured data, including a personal anecdote about asking an AI model about Masters winners.
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Show Notes
There's a lot of debate about the future of AI — not just whether it will produce the returns investors are expecting, but also if AI will lead to mass worker displacement. Big banks are the perfect prism through which to explore some of these questions. Not only are they deploying AI very quickly, but they have a wide range of workers who are using the technology, from back-office employees to junior analysts to the most senior investment bankers. In this episode, we speak with David Solomon, chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, about the impact of AI on the banking business, and why he does not predict a major white collar wipeout. We talk about the outlook for headcount, current conditions in capital markets, and the bank's role in the upcoming SpaceX IPO and Alphabet's historic equity capital raise. He also tells us about his early career in junk bonds and (because of his love of electronic dance music) how AI is transforming music production.
Read: Anthropic Picks Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs to Lead IPO
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