With the increasing popularity of artificial intelligence (AI), the pursuit of AI has spread from Silicon Valley to Wall Street.
In the past week, Morgan Stanley has promoted a technology executive to become the bank's first company wide AI executive. Meanwhile, Wall Street giants continue to compete for AI talent.
Morgan Stanley Appoints First AI Director
According to sources, a memorandum sent by Andy Saperstein and Dan Simkowitz, co presidents of Morgan Stanley, on the 14th stated that Jeff McMillan, the technology executive in the bank's wealth management department, was promoted and appointed as the first company wide AI director to assist in guiding the implementation of AI across the entire company.
Last year, Morgan Stanley also became the first Wall Street firm to create solutions for employees based on OpenAI's GPT-4, which was supervised by McMillan at the time.
Industry insiders believe that this move indicates the increasing importance of AI in financial services, triggered by the rapid rise of generative AI tools that can respond to certain demands in a manner similar to human behavior.
In fact, not only Morgan Stanley, but also JPMorgan Chase appointed Teresa Heitsenrether as Chief Data and Analysis Officer in June last year, responsible for the implementation of AI applications. At Goldman Sachs, its Chief Information Officer Marco Argenti is also seen as a major advocate for the application of AI technology.
The specific content of the above memorandum shows that Jeff McMillan has served as the AI director of Morgan Stanley. "Whether on our Modern Wealth Management platform or in our recent groundbreaking work with our exclusive partner OpenAI, Jeff has led the Wealth Management Analytics, Data, and Innovation Organization department and played a key role in driving technological development in wealth management," the memo wrote, "In his new position, Jeff will coordinate across the entire company to ensure we have appropriate AI strategies and governance. In doing so, he will collaborate with business and infrastructure departments to identify and prioritize AI related opportunities; help Morgan Stanley position itself in the industry's AI development process and ensure that Morgan Stanley continues to be an AI innovator."
In addition, to execute the AI strategy, Jeff will work closely with Mike Pizzi, Head of U.S. Banks and Technology, Sid Visentini, Head of Corporate Strategy, and Katy Huberty, Head of Global Research. Katy and Jeff will jointly lead the Firmwide AI Steering Group at the company level, which is composed of representatives from the business and infrastructure departments.
Wall Street is embroiled in an AI talent war
Morgan Stanley's emphasis on AI is not an exception. Despite significant layoffs by Wall Street giants last year, they are facing competition for both recruitment and retention of AI talent.
According to data compiled by consulting firm Evident, in the past 12 months to September last year, Goldman Sachs had a net outflow of 60 AI related positions, making it the most severe AI talent loss among the six major banks on Wall Street. Bank of America lost 55 people, ranking second. Fuguo Bank recorded the largest net growth, acquiring 130 AI talents.
"This is not just about hiring AI talent, but also about whether we can cultivate and retain them, because they have many other places to go," said Alexander Mousavizadeh, CEO of Evident. He added that although these resignations only make up a small portion of the thousands of AI employees in these Wall Street giants, these data can help us understand how fierce the competition for AI talent is.
This intense competition can also be reflected in the salary situation of employees engaged in data analysis and AI work. This type of employee ranks among the highest paid types of employees in Wall Street investment banks. According to the recruitment company Heidrick& According to a report by Struggles, the median annual salary for employees in AI positions in the United States last year was $901000, and employees with AI related work experience in Europe also earned $676000.
In recent months, given the potential of AI to improve employee productivity and reduce costs, industry leaders have accelerated their attempts to apply AI technology. For example, Citigroup plans to experiment with different AI technologies for its 40000 programmers by the end of the first quarter. According to Evident's data, in recent months, Citigroup has added 189 AI focused employees, but during the same period, 196 related employees have also been lost to competitors.
"Nowadays, if you are an investment bank and lack an AI strategy, then you have no strategy at all. The AI fever will continue to exist," said Mike Mayo, an analyst at Wells Fargo Bank
JPMorgan Chase also has thousands of vacant positions related to AI. Jamie Dimon, CEO of the bank, stated that he believes AI technology will enable employers to shorten their weekly working hours to 3.5 days. The bank has maintained its top position in the Evidence AI Index this year, which ranks investment banks based on their maturity in AI. According to Evident's data, JPMorgan Chase has lost 224 AI focused employees in recent months, but increased by 325 during the same period, resulting in a net inflow of 101, second only to Wells Fargo.
Teresa Heitsenrether, Chief Data and Analytics Officer of JPMorgan Chase, stated at the end of last year, "We are proud that our AI talent, insights, and solutions have once again been recognized. We are committed to continuing to invest in AI capabilities."