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Goldman Sachs launches AI assistant as the tech sweeps banking

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Goldman Sachs GS AI Assistant

Courtesy: Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs is rolling out a generative AI assistant to its bankers, traders and asset managers, the first stage in the evolution of a program that will eventually take on the traits of a seasoned Goldman employee, according to Chief Information Officer Marco Argenti.

The bank has released a program called GS AI assistant to about 10,000 employees so far, with the goal that all the company’s knowledge workers will have it this year, Argenti told CNBC in an exclusive interview. It will initially help with tasks including summarizing or proofreading emails or translating code from one language to another.

“Think about all the tasks that you might want to complete with regards to a variety of use cases for all those professions that can be now at your fingertips,” Argenti said. The Goldman assistant is a “very simple interface that allows you to have access to the latest and greatest models.”

Goldman’s move means that, along with JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, the world’s top three investment banks have aggressively released generative AI tools to their workforce, a remarkable development since ChatGPT went viral about two years ago.

Wall Street has embraced generative artificial intelligence faster than any other disruptive technology in recent years, experts say, because of how adept large language models are in replicating aspects of human cognition.

Today it can respond to queries, write emails and summarize lengthy documents, but expectations are high that future versions will exhibit so-called “agentic” abilities, meaning they can perform multi-step tasks with little human intervention.

In speaking with CNBC about his vision for artificial intelligence at the firm, Argenti — who joined from Amazon in 2019 — repeatedly likened the AI program to a new employee that will absorb Goldman culture over the coming years.

Initially, the tool will mostly produce answers based on Goldman data that has been fed into AI models from OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Meta’s Llama, depending on the task, said Argenti. The bank is also looking at models from companies including Anthropic, Mistral and Cohere, he added.

“The AI assistant becomes really like talking to another GS employee,” Argenti said.

Learning the Goldman Way

“As we progress, the second step is when you’re starting to have this agentic behavior, that is, ‘I’m completing a task on behalf of a Goldman employee, and I need to take a set of steps’,” he said. “That’s where the model is going to start to do things like a Goldman employee, not only say things like a Goldman employee.”

This helps explain why companies have forbid employees from using ChatGPT for work, instead moving to create their own platforms to tap the technology. It allows firms to not only keep their information secure, but to also craft AI platforms that increasingly resemble the best examples of their own workforce.

“For the AI to have a very specific identity that reflects the tenets, the values, the knowledge and the way of thinking of the firm is extremely important,” Argenti said.

In practice, that means that just as an experienced Goldman employee would know to double check their work with multiple data sources or use a specific algorithm for a calculation, the AI will absorb those lessons, he said.

Marco Argenti, chief information officer for Goldman Sachs, joined the bank from Amazon in 2019.

Courtesy: Goldman Sachs

But Argenti says he is most excited by the prospect of what comes later, in perhaps three to five years, as AI models increasingly blur the lines between human and machine thinking.

This stage of AI at Goldman would have the model “actually reason more and become more like the way a Goldman employee would think,” he said.

So instead of being handed a run book, which is tech industry parlance for a set of step-by-step instructions for completing tasks or responding to incidents, the AI would be able to generate detailed plans “in the way that an experienced Goldman employee would do,” Argenti said.

Disruption risk

The prospects of that future — and the fact that Wall Street’s workers are helping train a technology that may make some roles obsolete, while augmenting other jobs and creating new roles altogether — may send a fresh wave of anxiety through employee ranks.

Like at Goldman, other major investment banks are on target to give generative AI tools to their entire workforces in the coming months.

More than 200,000 JPMorgan employees currently have access to in-house generative AI tools, according to a person with knowledge of that bank who declined to be identified speaking about internal matters. Roughly 40,000 Morgan Stanley employees had access to it as of late last year, the bank said in October.

Finance and technology are seen as among the industries where employees are most prone to upheaval because of generative AI, allowing companies to potentially generate billions of dollars in additional profits. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told podcaster Joe Rogan earlier this month that its AI will be capable of writing code as well as mid-level software engineers this year.

Global investment banks may shed as many as 200,000 jobs in the next three to five years as the companies implement AI, according to a report from Bloomberg’s research arm. The report, based on a survey of tech executives at major banks, said that support and operations roles known as the back and middle office were most at risk.

At Goldman, however, the official stance is that AI will empower employees to do more, not necessarily result in the need for fewer humans.

“The importance of having a phenomenal human workforce is actually going to be amplified,” Argenti said.

“In my opinion, it always boils down to people,” he said. “People are going to make a difference, because people are going to be the ones that actually evolve the AI, educate the AI, empower the AI, and then take action.”

Morgan Stanley expands OpenAI-powered chatbot tools to Wall Street division

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China may see ‘flying taxis’ in three years, Ehang predicts

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A flying taxi displayed at the China Telecom booth at SNIEC in Shanghai, on June 26, 2024, during the opening of Mobile World Congress 2024.

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Flying taxis will become a viable method of transportation in China in the next three to five years, according to a senior executive at Ehang, a company that makes autonomous aerial vehicles (AAVs).

The prediction by Ehang’s Vice President He Tianxing comes days after the company became the first company, along with its joint venture partner Hefei Heyi Aviation, to obtain a certificate to operate “civil human-carrying pilotless aerial vehicles” from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Ehang said the certification clears the way for commercial operations of its vehicles, allowing for paid human-carrying services and any other low-altitude use cases the company develops.

At first, Ehang’s AAVs will be used for tourism, with passengers able to ride along designated routes in Guangzhou and Hefei by the end of June, He told CNBC in an interview translated from Mandarin.

The company will gradually explore air taxi services as its tourist operations progress. He named Hefei and Shenzhen as examples of some of the first cities expected to get air taxi services.

Ehang’s EH216-S, which received the certification, is a fully electric, pilotless two-seater aerial vehicle that features 16 propellers, according to Ehang’s website. It has a maximum design speed of 130 kilometers per hour, with a maximum range of 30 kilometers.

He expects to get certifications to operate in additional cities this year and next, with the second set of locations for tourist operations expected to include Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Taiyuan, Wuxi, Wenzhou and Wuhan.

For the forthcoming Hefei and Guangzhou locations, he declined to share the price per ride but hoped it would be reasonable enough to encourage more people to try out the pilotless aerial vehicle.

The experience should be “just like riding in a car,” added He, noting that no helmet or parachute is required. He said the initial length of rides offered by the company would vary from around three minutes to 10 minutes.

When asked about global markets, He said overseas partners had actively reached out since news of the certification, and he expected Ehang could expand overseas in the next few years.

Early lead

According to technology analysts, China’s allowing commercial use of passenger AAVs signifies its innovation and leadership in transportation and mobility. 

“This is a major development and shot across the bow from China showing technology innovation is accelerating,” said Dan Ives, global head of technology research at Wedbush Securities. 

China has already established itself as a global leader in electric vehicles and autonomous driving. Flying taxis, meanwhile, represent “one of the next frontiers for the auto and tech industry,” said Ives, adding that China already has created a clear lead in that space. 

Beijing first released rules for unmanned aircraft flight — vehicles without a pilot on board — in June 2023. The U.S., on the other hand, has yet to roll out comparable regulations.

Instead, Washington’s Federal Aviation Administration last year unveiled general rules for “powered-lift” vehicles, which includes some electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircrafts. 

eVTOL encompasses electric-powered aircrafts designed to carry passengers and take off and land vertically without the need for runways. However, the FAA has focused on those that are manually piloted.

Tu Le, founder of auto industry consultancy Sino Auto Insights, told CNBC that the U.S. has been falling behind China and even the EU in eVTOLs due to this lack of favorable policies, chalking it up to overregulation, lobbying from competing industries or “just plain politics.”

Meanwhile, China has been backing eVTOL technology as part of its “low-altitude economy,” the development of which has become a major policy goal. The term refers to economic activity taking place in airspace below 1,000 meters, well under the around 9,000 meters most commercial planes cruise around.  

In addition to flying taxis and other eVTOLs, examples of the low-altitude economy include unmanned drones for delivery and helicopter-operated air shuttle routes.

The term was recently included in China’s annual work report for 2025, with the government promising to promote its development. Beijing has also committed to boosting consumption in the low-altitude economy, notably in low-altitude tourism, air sports, and consumer drones, as part of a special action plan in March.

Already, China’s low-altitude economy is one of its fastest-growing industries, with it projected to be worth 1.5 trillion yuan ($205 billion) by 2025, and almost double that by 2035, according to a report by the research group Hurun

Competition ramping up 

Sino Auto Insights’ Le also credits China’s progress in the eVTOLs sector to a high degree of domestic competition. 

China has seen a major ramp-up of prospective players in recent years, as companies prepare for a high-tech future that was once confined to science fiction. 

Firms investing in the space have included electric vehicle makers like GAC, Geely and Xpeng.

Xpeng’s flying car division, Xpeng Aero HT, last week, completed a maiden flight of its “Land Carrier” product — a van paired with a 2-man quadcopter, the company told CNBC. 

Xpeng Aero HT said it will hold a pre-sale launch event and complete the construction of its mass production factory in the second half of the year. It also aims to obtain certifications for airworthiness by the end of the year.

Last month, XPeng Motors CEO He Xiaopeng told state media the company plans to mass-produce flying cars by 2026, as China’s low-altitude economy is boosted by supportive policy.

However, despite China leading in eVTOL regulation, it is expected to face competition from international companies also investing in and building various types of air vehicle technologies. 

Some of those companies include international companies like America’s Boeing, France’s Airbus, and the Brazilian firm Embraer, which have taken steps to take advantage of future flying car demand. 

Numerous startups, including Joby Aviation, Archer, and Wisk, in the U.S. are also planning on launching various commercial air taxi services over the next few years. 

According to Wedbush’s Ives, the global electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft business could grow into a $30 billion market opportunity over the next decade.

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China’s response to U.S. tariffs will likely focus on stimulus, trade

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Chinese national flags flutter on boats near shipping containers at the Yangshan Port outside Shanghai, China, February 7, 2025. 

Go Nakamura | Reuters

BEIJING — China’s reaction to new U.S. tariffs will likely focus on domestic stimulus and strengthening ties with trading partners, according to analysts based in Greater China.

Hours after U.S. President Donald Trump announced additional 34% tariffs on China, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce called on the U.S. to cancel the tariffs, and vowed unspecified countermeasures. The sweeping U.S. policy also slapped new duties on the European Union and major Asian countries.

Chinese exports to the U.S. this year had already been hit by 20% in additional tariffs, raising the total rate on shipments from China to 54%, among the highest levied by the Trump administration. The effective rate for individual product lines can vary.

But, as has been the case, the closing line of the Chinese statement was a call to negotiate.

“I think the focus of China’s response in the near term won’t be retaliatory tariffs or such measures,” said Bruce Pang, adjunct associate professor at CUHK Business School. That’s according to a CNBC translation of the Chinese-language statement.

Instead, Pang expects China to focus on improving its own economy by diversifying export destinations and products, as well as doubling down on its priority of boosting domestic consumption.

Watch for cascading tariffs as tariffs reroute trade within Asia, says economist

China, the world’s second-largest economy, has since September stepped up stimulus efforts by expanding the fiscal deficit, increasing a consumption trade-in subsidy program and calling for a halt in the real estate slump. Notably, Chinese President Xi Jinping held a rare meeting with tech entrepreneurs including Alibaba founder Jack Ma in February, in a show of support for the private sector.

The policy reversal — from regulatory tightening in recent years — reflects how Beijing has been “anticipating the coming slowdown or even crash in exports,” Macquarie’s Chief China Economist Larry Hu said in a report, ahead of Trump’s latest tariff announcement. He pointed out that the pandemic-induced export boom of 2021 enabled Beijing to “launch a massive regulatory campaign.”

“My view stays the same,” Hu said in an email Thursday. “Beijing will use domestic stimulus to offset the impact of tariffs, so that they could still achieve the growth target of ‘around 5%.'”

Instead of retaliatory tariffs, Hu also expects Beijing will focus on still using blacklists, export controls on critical minerals and probes into foreign companies in China. Hu also anticipates China will keep the yuan strong against the U.S. dollar and resist calls from retailers to cut prices — as a way to push inflationary pressure onto the U.S.

China’s top leaders in early March announced they would pursue a target of around 5% growth in gross domestic product this year, a task they emphasized would require “very arduous work” to achieve. The finance ministry also hinted it could increase fiscal support if needed.

About 20% of China’s economy relies on exports, according to Goldman Sachs. They previously estimated that new U.S. tariffs of around 60% on China would lower real GDP by around 2 percentage points. The firm still maintains a full-year forecast of 4.5% GDP growth.

Changing global trade

What’s different from the impact of tariffs under Trump’s first term is that China is not the only target, but one of a swath of countries facing hefty levies on their exports to the U.S. Some of these countries, such as Vietnam and Thailand, had served as alternate routes for Chinese goods to reach the U.S.

At the Chinese export hub of Yiwu on Thursday, businesses seemed nonchalant about the impact of the new U.S. tariffs, due to a perception their overseas competitors wouldn’t gain an advantage, said Cameron Johnson, a Shanghai-based senior partner at consulting firm Tidalwave Solutions.

He pointed out that previously, the U.S. had focused its trade measures on forcing companies to remove China from their supply chains and go to other countries. But Chinese manufacturers had expanded overseas alongside that diversification, he said.

“The reality is this [new U.S. tariff policy] essentially gives most of Asia and Africa to China, and the U.S. is not prepared,” Johnson said. He expects China won’t make things unnecessarily difficult for U.S. businesses operating in the country and instead will try harder to build other trade relationships.

Since Trump’s first four-year term ended in early 2021, China has increased its trade with Southeast Asia so much that the region is now Beijing’s largest trading partner, followed by the European Union and then the U.S.

The 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) joined China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand in forming the world’s largest free trade bloc — the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) — which came into being in early 2022. The U.S. and India are not members of the RCEP.

“RCEP member countries will naturally deepen trade ties with one another,” Yue Su, principal economist, China, at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said in a note Thursday.

“This is also partly because China’s economy is likely to remain the most — or at least among the most—stable in relative terms, given the government’s strong commitment to its growth targets and its readiness to deploy fiscal policy measures when needed,” she said.

Uncertainties remain

The extent to which all countries will be slapped with tariffs this week remains uncertain as Trump is widely expected to use the duties as a negotiating tactic, especially with China.

He said last week the U.S. could lower its tariffs on China to help close a deal for Beijing-based ByteDance to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations.

But the level of new tariffs on China was worse than many investors expected.

“Unlike some of the optimistic market forecasts, we do not expect a US-China bilateral grand bargain,” Ting Lu, chief China economist at Nomura, said in a note Thursday.

“We expect tensions between these two mega economies to worsen significantly,” he said, “especially as China has been making large strides in high-tech sectors, including AI and robotics.”

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