J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon believes artificial intelligence (AI) will enhance businesses and work-life balance, potentially reducing workweeks for employees to 3.5 days in the future, according to a report. While he also acknowledged job displacement risks, Dimon chose to stress the historical benefits of technology, it reported.
Speaking to a media channel, Dimon said thousands at JP Morgan are already using AI, adding that the technology is evolving and a “living breathing thing”. But Dimon sought to move away from the pessimistic views on AI, adding that AI and large language models (LLMs) provide opportunities to improve living standards, as per the report.
“People have to take a deep breath. Technology has always replaced jobs. Your children are going to live to 100 and not have cancer because of technology, and literally, they will probably be working three and a half days a week,” he told the channel.
On the threat of job loss, Dimon was of the view that while disruptions from technology are expected, he hopes to move employees pushed out of a job because of AI to another role instead of firing them, Fortune reported.
He compared J.P. Morgan’s acquisition of First Republic in 2023 to AI disruption, stating, “At First Republic we’ve offered jobs to 90% of people. They accepted, but we also told them some of those jobs are transitory. But we hire 30,000 people a year, so we expect to be able to get them a job somewhere local in a different branch or a different function if we can do that. We’ll be doing that with any dislocation that takes place as a result of AI,” Dimon said.
He also added that the technology could lead to “negatives” if “used by bad people”. “Technology has done unbelievable things for mankind, but you know, planes crash, and pharmaceuticals get misused—there are negatives. This one, the biggest negative in my view, is AI being used by bad people to do bad things. Think of cyber warfare,” he added.
