JPMorgan Is Using AI to Help Slow Hiring

Morning! If you’re in the market for a Los Angeles mansion, you might be able to get one for a steal. The 10-bedroom, 13-bathroom home in LA’s Holmby Hills neighborhood has been on the market since September, when it was listed for $61.5 million. The catch? Sean “Diddy” Combs owns it.

In today’s big story, JPMorgan’s getting so much efficiency out of AI it’s impacting the bank’s hiring plans. (Oh, and Jamie Dimon chimed in with some thoughts on the economy.)

What’s on deck

Markets: What top Wall Street banks are saying about the return of the “sell America” trade.

Tech: An excerpt from a new book chronicling OpenAI’s incredible, and sometimes controversial, rise to power.

Business: CBS News’ CEO is leaving. It’s another blow for “60 Minutes.”

But first, we’re no longer hiring humans for that position.

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The big story

(AI) Help Wanted

Artificial intelligence might not take your current job. But there’s a chance it’ll make finding your next one pretty hard.

JPMorgan is the latest company to indicate AI is affecting its workforce needs, writes BI’s Reed Alexander.

During JPMorgan’s investor day Monday, two bank executives said hiring would slow down and headcount reductions would be coming, thanks partly to AI. It’s a big reversal for the bank, which has grown its headcount by 23% over the past five years.

Jeremy Barnum, JPMorgan’s CFO, told investors the bank was “asking people to resist head count growth where possible and increase their focus on efficiency.”

Meanwhile, Marianne Lake, CEO of consumer and community banking, said there will likely be a 10% drop in the bank’s operations workforce thanks to the benefits of AI.

Barnum made one caveat about JPM’s future hiring plans. Strategic hiring will still take place in “high-certainty areas” like bankers, advisors, and branches.

Translation: If you’re generating money for the bank, you’re fine. Everyone else? Good luck.

The bank isn’t alone in its AI-powered hiring slowdown. Amazon also sees robots as a key part of flattening its hiring curve, according to an internal document viewed by BI’s Eugene Kim.

It wouldn’t be right to discuss JPMorgan’s investor day without mentioning the world’s most famous banker.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon shared some pessimistic views on the state of the volatile economy.

He raised the alarm on the risk of stagflation, a nightmare situation where inflation flares up while growth stalls. JPMorgan also missed out on some business because of Trump’s trade war, according to Dimon.

Dimon wasn’t completely down on the current administration, crediting government officials for wanting to “fix some of the things they think are broken.” (If Dimon had it his way, regulations for public companies would loosen. Shocker!)

But perhaps Dimon’s most interesting comments were about one of his biggest rivals: bitcoin.

Despite his constant bashing of the digital asset, his bank will now allow clients to buy it. (They won’t hold onto it for you, though.)

“I don’t think you should smoke. But I defend your right to smoke,” Dimon said.

3 things in markets

1. Ross Gerber isn’t sold on Tesla’s recent rally. Shares of Elon Musk’s EV maker were up 52% from recent lows, but Gerber still thinks it has further to fall. The early investor-turned-bear dumped more stock, citing three major issues with the company.

2. US debt downgrade: disaster or distraction? Top Wall Street banks weigh in. Moody’s slashed America’s top-tier credit rating following concerns about the country’s fiscal situation. The news rattled the markets on Monday, but Wall Street banks aren’t bracing for a major volatility spike. They explained why.

3. Would-be investors said no to OpenAI’s nonprofit structure. In a letter to California’s attorney general, the company said it lost out on “many” potential investors because it couldn’t offer “easy-to-understand” equity. It plans to restructure as a Public Benefit Corporation.

3 things in tech

1. OpenAI’s growing pains. ChatGPT turned the hot little startup into a household name overnight. With a sudden need to scale up, OpenAI went on a hiring frenzy that led it to double in size. The result was pure chaos. Read an excerpt from Karen Hao’s new book about the world’s most famous startup.

2. This Yale student moonlights as a tech security watchdog. Alex Schapiro has caught bugs in startups and big companies, leading at least one to start its own bug bounty program. He’s an ethical hacker — someone who looks for flaws in code before the bad guys can exploit them.

3. AI and consulting are on a crash course with each other, and the Big Four could be the victim. Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG have dominated the services industry for decades, but AI could upend that. From business models to pricing structures, here’s how AI could disrupt the Big Four’s dominance.

3 things in business

1. CBS News’ CEO Wendy McMahon is out. In a memo sent to staff obtained by BI, McMahon cited disagreements with Paramount’s path forward. Her exit follows longtime “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens’ departure a month ago. Following news of the latest shake-up, Sen. Bernie Sanders warned Paramount Global’s controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, to “not capitulate to Trump’s attack on a free press.”

2. The pharma heir and the trial lawyer she says hoodwinked her. Claudia Engelhorn gave a $10 million “gift” to her former lawyer, Erik Bolog. Engelhorn says he tricked her into it; Bolog says she’s retaliating because he called her out on what he says was a racist remark. Now, they’re duking it out in court.

3. Walmart just did other companies a favor. The retail giant’s recent announcement to raise prices due to Trump’s tariffs gave other companies the freedom to do the same, retail analysts told BI. But following Trump’s Walmart backlash, companies might want to be careful with how they approach the price hike conversation.

In other news

• Instagram is offering creators up to $20,000 to bring people to the app.
• 23andMe was once worth $6 billion. What’s left of the DNA testing startup is being bought for $256 million.
• Capital One just bought Discover. Here’s what it means for their customers.
• From guitars to tubas, Trump’s tariffs are making instruments more expensive.
• Nvidia CEO says Chinese AI researchers are ‘world class’ — and US companies are hiring ‘a whole bunch’ of them.
• I’m a former air traffic controller. The entire system is being stressed and the government needs to do more.
• People are working harder and longer. Here’s how to avoid burning out.

• Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ would create ‘unfettered abuse‘ of AI, 141 high-profile orgs warn in letter to Congress.

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  What’s happening today

• Google’s annual Input/Output developer conference begins in Mountain View.
• McDonald’s annual shareholder meeting.

• Home Depot reports earnings.

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• The Business Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Ella Hopkins, associate editor, in London. Elizabeth Casolo, fellow, in Chicago.