(Bloomberg) --In a dark future for humans on Wall Street, banks fire traders en masse as artificial intelligence models like ChatGPT take over bond and commodities markets that were once too tough to automate.
But not yet. And maybe not ever.
Wall Street banks are taking steps to limit or prohibit its use, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. And the traders and other professionals that are dabbling in the technology are quickly finding that, while it could make some of their most mundane tasks faster, the process is hardly seamless.
And there are other potentially thorny issues, such as data security.
Global banks that paid $2 billion in U.S. sanctions when their employees embraced unmonitored communications channels such as WhatsApp for business are likely to tread carefully in using third-party AI platforms.
Indeed, JPMorgan, the nation's largest bank, has already restricted its staff's use of ChatGPT, a person familiar with the matter
Bank of America told employees that ChatGPT and openAI are prohibited from business use, according to people with knowledge of the matter. In their regular, routine reminder of unauthorized apps including WhatsApp, the bank added a reference to ChatGPT specifically, and has repeated in internal meetings that new technology must be vetted before it can be used in business communications, the people said.
A representative for Bank of America declined to comment.
AI at Work
Banks' reticence to let employees use ChatGPT is at odds with their longtime use of artificial intelligence and machine learning more broadly.
At Citigroup, for instance, thousands of auditors have been using IBM's machine learning and natural language processing technology to improve their reviews. Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, openly touts its tools that use machine learning techniques to help clients with hedging trades.
And just this month, JPMorgan said in a survey it conducted of hundreds of traders across Wall Street that more than half believed artificial intelligence and machine learning would have the biggest impact on financial markets in the coming years.
But for ChatGPT, that's still a ways away. Three senior trading executives from across Wall Street said their firms aren't using the technology whatsoever in their businesses.
Still, one joked he does have a use in mind: writing employee reviews.
--With assistance from Jenny Surane, Heng Xie, Chien-Hua Wan, Jing Zhao and Dina Bass.
