- JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs are using AI to automate work and curb hiring even as profits surge.
- JPMorgan posted Q3 2025 profit of $14.4B (+12%) while keeping headcount nearly flat at about 318,000 and pushing managers to avoid new hires.
- Goldman’s “OneGS 3.0” targets efficiency via AI-driven process redesign, with constrained headcount growth, limited layoffs, and about 48,300 employees (+~1,800 YoY).
- Both banks expect AI to eliminate some operations/support roles over time while reshaping others through retraining and redeployment.
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The recent announcements from JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs signal a strategic inflection point: banks are using artificial intelligence not just as a cost-saving tool, but as a lever to redesign their operating models amid exceptional financial results. While institutions are reporting robust profits—JPMorgan up ~12% year-over-year in Q3 2025, Goldman up ~37%—senior executives are pushing against traditional growth via headcount, instead emphasizing efficiency, retraining, and technological transformation.
For JPMorgan, the directive is clear: restrict hiring unless justified, avoid reflexive headcount increases, leverage AI to automate knowledge work. With 318,153 employees as of September and only a ~1% increase in staff despite strong earnings, JPMorgan is targeting substantial reductions—projected at least 10% over five years—in roles tied to operations and support.
Goldman Sachs is pursuing a parallel path via “OneGS 3.0,” a multiyear initiative focusing on operational efficiency, process reengineering, and targeted adjustments to staff levels. Although the firm forecasts limited reductions and constrained hiring through the end of the year, it expects overall headcount to increase compared to the prior year. The plan emphasizes automation in areas such as sales support, client onboarding, regulatory reporting, and vendor management.
These moves echo trends in tech firms like Amazon and Microsoft, which also anticipate labor disruption from AI, including hiring freezes and workforce restructuring. However, analysts suggest that despite headline layoff numbers, deep workforce cuts are limited for now; banks are leaning on productivity gains to put off major structural layoffs.
Strategically, this sets up tension points: balancing short‐term profitability with long‐term competitiveness; managing employee expectations and morale amid role elimination and retraining; ensuring regulatory and compliance risks are managed; and determining how to allocate savings from AI—whether into technology, client-facing investments, or shareholder returns. Key open questions include how quickly operations staff reductions will materialize, how retraining programs will be implemented, and whether the rate of AI adoption will keep pace with expectations from investors and competitors.
Supporting Notes
- JPMorgan’s Q3 2025 profit increased 12% year-over-year to $14.4 billion; headcount rose by only ~1%, reaching 318,153 employees by September. Managers have been instructed to avoid hiring unless necessary.
- CFO Jeremy Barnum at JPMorgan said there is “a very strong bias against having the reflexive response to any given need be to hire more people.”
- Goldman Sachs’ Q3 2025 profit rose ~37% to $4.1 billion; the bank outlined its AI strategy (“OneGS 3.0”) in a memo signaling constrained headcount growth through year-end and limited layoffs.
- Goldman Sachs’ employee count was ~48,300 as of end-September, roughly ~1,800 more than a year earlier, despite the plan to reduce roles and limit hiring.
- Solomon emphasized moves toward “speed and agility in all facets of operations… not just retooling platforms,” meaning rethinking how people are organized, decisions are made, and efficiency is measured.
- JPMorgan projects roles in operations and support will fall by at least 10% over the next five years as AI reduces labor needs even as business volumes expand.
- Despite reports of layoffs and constrained hiring, industry experts say overall headcount in banking has remained relatively stable or growing slightly—e.g. banks like JPMorgan and Goldman still ended 2025 with modest gains year-over-year.