Meet the 12 execs leading the AI strategy at top US banks like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley

This year is shaping up to be all about artificial intelligence, and Wall Street is no exception. 

While AI is not novel on Wall Street, generative AI and large language models (LLMs) have created new momentum because of their ability to ingest information and produce human-like answers to just about any prompt or question.

“AI goes through winters and summers, as we call them,” Prag Sharma, Citi’s global head of AI, told Insider.

“This time it’s different because a number of things are aligned that were never aligned before. Data is in digital format, compute power can now be purchased and scaled, and open-source algorithms can be developed,” Sharma added.

The potential of the technology has not been overlooked in the financial world, with firms of all sizes coming up with new use cases. Private-equity giant EQT is exploring how it can be applied to dealmaking, while Goldman Sachs is getting non-tech workers to do more with software.

But there are also risks. Firms have had to tread carefully around issues regarding intellectual property, privacy, and regulatory compliance.

Most bank leaders agree that generative AI and LLMs stand to shake-up the current banking landscape — a few would even argue that it’s revolutionary.

But what banks can’t seem to agree on is the best way to deploy AI throughout the organization. Of the nation’s six largest banks, no two firms have the same AI leadership structure.

Some have embedded AI experts into different lines of business, others use a centralized function to oversee AI efforts firmwide, and some opt for a mix of both. Banks’ priorities and tech strategies can also be gleaned from which divisions have dedicated AI leaders and which don’t.