Goldman Sachs Partner: Using less AI makes you "dumber"

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AI is making Wall Street employees more efficient, but it may also make them “dumber.” An AI head at Goldman Sachs warns that excessive reliance on AI could cause “cognitive atrophy,” leading people to gradually lose the ability for independent reasoning and problem-solving.

According to CNBC, Chris Churchman, head of Goldman Sachs’ Marquee digital platform for institutional clients, said in the latest episode of the bank’s podcast that in the AI era, people are outsourcing the reasoning process to models, which may result in “cognitive atrophy,” gradually losing the ability to reason independently from first principles. Churchman is also the co-chair of Goldman Sachs’ global banking and markets AI working group.

What’s even more concerning is that AI might replace precisely the "fundamental skills" most needed by young finance professionals. The basic tasks previously undertaken by junior employees have been an important way for them to gain experience, train their judgment, and ultimately grow into senior talent, and AI is gradually taking over these steps.

“Apprentice Culture” Faces Impact

Churchman compared AI's impact on the financial industry to how modern navigation technology eroded the sense of direction: while convenience increases, people may gradually lose abilities they once relied on themselves to master. He said: “You still need to reason about problems and build them into an argument, but now we are also outsourcing the reasoning itself.”

He gave an example of training junior traders. Traditionally, young traders would handle client quote requests under the guidance of experienced risk takers and accumulate experience and market judgment through repeated actual transactions. "We can completely automate this stage," Churchman said, but the question is, "if we do that, can we still develop senior traders who truly understand the market?"

In his view, a significant portion of key knowledge in the financial industry is “tacit knowledge,” not systematically documented, and can only be acquired through practice and apprenticeship. Goldman Sachs needs to ensure it does not lose the tacit knowledge and intuitive judgment accumulated by top talent, and enables the next generation of professionals to possess these abilities as well.

Concerns about Reduced Demand for Junior Staff

AI's impact on Wall Street’s talent structure is no longer just a change in capabilities.

According to previous CNBC reports, several Wall Street institutions are looking into using AI to reduce the ratio of junior bankers to senior staff, meaning AI adoption may further shrink demand for entry-level positions.

Churchman believes banks need to find a balance between improving AI application efficiency and protecting Wall Street’s “apprentice culture.” Before joining Goldman Sachs, he worked at UBS in charge of FX trading and was familiar with traditional financial institutions’ talent development mechanisms.

In his view, system design must ensure that employees still hold the dominant role in high-risk, highly uncertain decision-making, rather than gradually becoming passive operators of AI systems.

Accuracy Challenges in Technology Implementation

Meanwhile, the actual adoption of AI in high-end financial services still faces accuracy and auditability challenges.

Churchman believes ensuring AI’s output is 100% accurate and auditable is one of the most thorny issues in bringing AI onto the Marquee platform. Compared to consumer-facing AI chatbots, high-end financial services have almost zero tolerance for errors.

He also revealed a telling detail. During stress testing of the platform’s AI system, when faced with strong questioning, the system gave an unexpectedly honest reply: “Ultimately, I’m better at sounding rigorous than actually being rigorous.”

Currently, the Marquee AI platform is only open to Goldman Sachs internal employees. Churchman admitted that even a top investment bank like Goldman Sachs has not fully “figured out” how to manage this transformation that has already begun.

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