Jamie Dimon Equates AI To Printing Press, Steam Engine: 'Consequences Will Be Extraordinary'

JPMorgan Chase JPM CEO Jamie Dimon addressed the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in his annual letter published Monday, April 8.

What Happened: Dimon has previously expressed optimism toward AI, and that sentiment hasn’t changed.

"While we do not know the full effect or the precise rate at which AI will change our business — or how it will affect society at large — we are completely convinced the consequences will be extraordinary and possibly as transformational as some of the major technological inventions of the past several hundred years," Dimon said.

Dimon compared AI to other well-known inventions (i.e., the printing press, steam engine, the Internet) from the past several hundred years.

"We have been actively using predictive AI and ML for years — and now have over 400 use cases in production in areas such as marketing, fraud and risk — and they are increasingly driving real business value across our businesses and functions."

Dimon also said that generative AI has wide use cases that are being explored including operations, employee productivity and customer service.

"While we are investing more money in our AI capabilities, many of these projects pay for themselves,” Dimon added. “Over time, we anticipate that our use of AI has the potential to augment virtually every job, as well as impact our workforce composition. It may reduce certain job categories or roles, but it may create others as well."

Related Link: After Saying AI Is ‘Not Hype,’ JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon Reveals How He Personally And Professionally Uses The Technology

Why It's Important: Dimon’s attitude toward job losses from AI is akin to a take from serial entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk (aka Gary Vee).

The fear of AI, according to Vaynerchuk, is reminiscent of the concern felt by farmers when the tractor was first introduced.

Vaynerchuk shared a video in February 2023 titled "AI is coming for our jobs and that's okay.” In the video, he compared AI to tractors and discussed the fears that farmers had of their jobs being replaced — before realizing that the tractor helped improve their operations.

"AI will create efficiency, and yes, it'll make some jobs less valuable. We evolve, we adjust, and we find new opportunities. AI is the tractor of our time, and we need to embrace it," Vee said. "So don't be scared of AI — understand it, and use it to your advantage."

Last year, Goldman Sachs economists published a report predicting that roughly 300 million full-time jobs could be automated by AI in the coming years.

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