David Solomon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs, joined Professor Reena Aggarwal in a wide-ranging conversation for our Financial Markets Quality Conference that included how his firm uses artificial intelligence.
This technology is giving firms an ability to reimagine operating processes in their businesses — not just change them at the margin — and that can provide growth opportunities at a much faster pace, Solomon said. His bank has identified certain areas in which it can apply AI, including onboarding customers.
What does this mean for the evolution of labor? “I’m in the camp that while there will be disruption and friction, it won’t be as significant as some of the big naysayers say,” Solomon said.
He also touched on the proposal coming out of the SEC to not require quarterly earnings reports. While proponents say reducing these requirements would allow businesses to focus on growing their businesses while still providing adequate information to investors, critics say the change could decrease transparency.
“Our capital markets in the U.S. will be healthy and will be the leader wherever we ultimately land on this,” Solomon said. “It’s not a crystal clear issue and a week ago I didn’t realize it was something I needed to think about right now.”
Meanwhile, Solomon said the growth of the private markets is something he wants to watch very carefully. Investors need to understand what they’re investing in and the risk they’re taking on.
“Owning financial assets is risk taking and we’ve been comfortable giving retail investors at the smallest level pretty open access to equity and the equity markets…Those are risky assets,” he said. “But I do believe there will be speed bumps along the way.”