While firms like Google, Amazon and OpenAI fight for the highest spot in Big Tech, JPMorgan is quietly winning the competition from Wall Street itself: the lead within the AI race in banking.
At least that is the opinion of 1 expert who appeared at Fortune’s BrainstormAI conference in London this week.
For Alexandra Mousavizadeh, co-founder and CEO of benchmarking platform Evident Insights, it’s not about how firms can compete with North American banks on technology – but about how they will catch up.
Speak with AssetsMousavizadeh, Massimo Marioni of , explained her company’s “Evident Index,” which assesses how ready firms are for the approaching wave of transformation that AI will bring.
JPMorgan Chase – which made record profits of $49.6 billion in 2023 – is at the highest, followed by Capital One, Royal Bank of Canada and Wells Fargo.
The company, led by Jamie DImon, ranked first in innovation – be it research or patents – and transparency in responsible AI activities. The company ranked second in talent and leadership, earning it the highest spot in the general rankings in November 2023.
“It was interesting to see that in the top 10 or top 20 they were dominated by North American banks,” Mousavizadeh said. The first three were “very different banks,” she added, but continued: “What they’d in common, or what they’ve in common, is that they were very energetic from the beginning… to set out very clearly, what this AI vision is.” .
“Then there was just a lot of pressure on hiring AI talent, setting up research labs, really thinking about the innovation strategy and structure, research and patents and partnerships and vendors, etc. and then looking at the operating model – all with that right perspective.” to: “How can we shorten the time from idea generation to production?”
The index is updated annually. Mousavizadeh said it is going to be “very interesting” to see how the index’s rankings shift in the approaching years.
However, Mousavizadeh said it was now an issue of “can you keep up with the top banks like JPMorgan” and explained: “The banks that are leading are really doubling down.” So there’s a little bit of a niche between those at the highest of the index and people at the highest , that are further behind, because there’s an enormous advantage in being the primary mover because you could have developed a fame for attracting AI talent.”
In his Letter to shareholders This yr, Dimon – who was paid a record $36 million for his work last yr – said the corporate has been using AI and machine learning for “years.”
The bank has identified greater than 400 use cases for the technology in marketing, fraud and risk, brought together 1000’s of AI experts and data scientists and begun researching the usage of generative AI, Dimon said.
The Wall Street giant initially set a goal of generating $1 billion in real “business value” in 2023, but in accordance with Bloomberg Earlier this yr, the corporate increased that focus on to $1.5 billion at its investor day in May.
Dimon’s team is predicted to focus – and drive for results – at JPMorgan, with the 68-year-old openly making predictions about technology’s impact on the economy.
AI will reduce employees’ working hours to three.5 days per week, the Harvard graduates said in October, for individuals who live as much as 100 years old.
Speak with BloombergTVAccording to Dimon, fears that AI could replace human roles are offset by the big advantages it could bring. “Technology has always replaced jobs,” he explained. “Their kids will live to 100 years old and not get cancer thanks to technology, and literally they will probably work three and a half days a week.”
In February this yr, Dimon reiterated that AI isn’t “hype,” saying, “This is real.”
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However, leveraging the trail already taken by market leaders is an area where outliers within the index can rocket forward.
Mousavizadeh explained: “Any bank that decides to really focus on this now [can be] If you look at what the leading banks are doing and what the best approach is for each bank, a bank can definitely catch up when it comes to articulating its vision very clearly and communicating it very clearly both internally and externally “To make sure AI works is the absolute most important thing for any leader in an industry.”
Of course, the important thing to staying ahead could possibly be having talent and having the people on board who will proceed to innovate. According to a Salesforce Survey 2023 Of greater than 11,000 employees worldwide, just one in ten employees have the in-demand AI skills.
Mousavizadeh added that there are lots of uses for limited talent, meaning attracting expert employees also needs to be high on the agenda for bosses.
“You have to make the bank a really attractive place to work,” she said. “So can you demonstrate your research? Is there access to active sharing in open source communities? Are there really interesting problems to work on? Is this a priority for the bank?”
“These are some of the many opportunities that banks can focus on [AI] Now and catch up.”
