As JPMorgan Chase accelerates modernization efforts and develops its artificial intelligence plan, Global Chief Information Officer Lori Beer is focused on the interconnectedness of technologies across the country's largest bank.
And as generative AI and foundational models, the technology behind ChatGPT, rapidly evolve, Beer has piloted a path for the bank to execute its long-term strategy and support developing advances in data and analytics capabilities.
"We've definitely been in startup mode, but we saw this wave coming," Beer said. "We've been trying to prepare for it. It's how we think about the interconnectedness of some of our modernization strategies, how we think about our applications, how we think about leveraging the public cloud. … [Generative AI] is really game changing in terms of the potential, but it's also challenging in terms of the incremental risk and things we need to think about."
JPMorgan's investment in technology is slated to top $15 billion this year, and its multiyear modernization blueprint, which Beer laid out last year, includes optimizing data centers, migrating applications to cloud and enhancing data platforms. Generative AI and foundational models can help scale this progress, Beer said.
Beer, a software engineer at her roots, took the reins as global CIO at JPMorgan in 2017, and has been core to steering and executing the company's technology investments. The bank expects the infrastructure modernization to deliver $1.5 billion in cost savings and efficiencies over the next three years, along with an expected $1.5 billion in value through AI by the end of 2023. In the last year, AI capabilities have driven more than $300 million in retail and commercial business at the bank.
Along with setting the technology strategy, Beer is passionate about recruiting and building a diverse workforce, including through programs like Girls Who Code and Tech for Social Good. She's the co-sponsor of JPMorgan's Access Ability Business Resource Group, a member of the Teach for America New York Advisory Board and the University of Cincinnati board of trustees and has endowed STEM scholarships at the University of Cincinnati and her alma mater, the University of Dayton.
"When we think about talent, it's incredibly important," Beer said. "We know that the products and services and things that we create are really technology at the end of the day. Tech is very strategic to us, and so you see our sourcing and our staffing strategy built around that."
At the firm, Beer oversees a team of 57,000 technologists worldwide and growing, such as in Mumbai and Bengaluru, where the firm opened two of its largest technology and operations centers earlier this month. Beer said she's also been mindful about hiring employees from other analytics industries and upskilling them through coding bootcamps, along with offering learning opportunities to all technologists.
As part of its data and AI goals, the bank has hired more than 900 data scientists, 600 machine learning engineers and 200 AI researchers. JPMorgan has been using AI for years, and had been experimenting with generative AI and large language models before ChatGPT hit the scene, she said, but the widespread use of those models accelerated the company's innovation.
"As we were evolving the technology, we made sure we evolved our thinking around how to really do responsible AI," Beer said. "Part of it is making sure that we're smart in the use cases we pick and deploy."
The bank has more than 300 AI use cases in development, an objective CEO Jamie Dimon called "an absolute necessity" in his April letter to shareholders. Beer said the bank's early applications for generative AI are centered around helping copilot or accelerate employees' jobs, such as providing IT solutions internally or summarizing documents. Beer said there's potential to use models and AI that help software engineers write code to further JPMorgan's modernization strategy. Symbiotically, she said the bank's advances to its platforms create a better testing environment for new models.
The innovative technology can help drive JP Morgan's modernization strategy, and, in tandem, the bank's advances to its platforms create a better testing environment for generative AI and new models.
"I'm excited about the applicability of AI across technology, and really giving technology the next level of productivity," Beer said. "There's a ton of opportunity to continue to leverage our data, techniques around analytics and machine learning, and take that to the next level, on top of generative AI."
At the company's investor day in May, Beer said "successful AI is responsible AI." JPMorgan has an interdisciplinary team, including ethicists, to safely deploy the technology across all businesses in the bank. The firm also tapped Teresa Heitsenrether to be its newly created chief data and analytics officer in June, a move that Beer said is indicative of the bank's commitment to AI. Beer and Heitsenrether will partner to outline JPMorgan's AI priorities in sync.
Going forward, Beer said she's looking forward to continuing JPMorgan's momentum in improving infrastructure, rolling out generative AI, staying the course with strong cybersecurity and researching cutting-edge technology like quantum computing.
