Bank of America CEO: AI's boosting effect on the economy is gradually emerging

On Monday, Bank of America Corp. CEO Brian Moynihan told the media that artificial intelligence (AI) is beginning to have a greater impact on the U.S. economy.

In a media interview, Moynihan said:

“AI-related investments have been accumulating continuously this year, and next year and in the years to come, it may become an even bigger driver of growth. AI is playing an increasing role; of course, economic growth does not come entirely from AI, but its marginal impact is very obvious and quite strong.”

Moynihan has headed Bank of America for nearly 15 years. He said the bank expects the U.S. economy to perform strongly next year, with economic growth likely to reach 2.4%, higher than the roughly 2% projected for 2025. He also pointed out that although the labor market has begun to soften, this looks more like a normalization process in the job market.

In recent months, several AI companies, including OpenAI, have attracted billions of dollars in capital inflows as investors actively bet on the sector. However, business leaders such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos have also warned that AI spending could create an "industrial bubble," which may result in some investment losses in the short term, but will still have a positive impact on society in the long run.

Moynihan said Bank of America believes that if the AI sector overheats and is then forced to cool down, the risk to the overall economy is relatively limited, including minimal impact on consumers and jobs, because this sector is mainly concentrated within a small number of companies.

He said:

“As a lending institution, we pay attention to the leverage levels of these projects, making sure we are comfortable with them, and at the same time evaluate whether the contract terms for customers who ultimately commit to using data centers are solid enough.”

Moynihan also said Bank of America is actively using AI itself. The company launched its intelligent assistant robot, Erica, in 2018. Currently, the number of questions Erica can answer has increased from the initial 200 to 700.

Moynihan stated:

“We will increasingly apply automated intelligence—or what we call augmented intelligence, which is using AI tools to make people more efficient—which will impact every area of our business.”

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