JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon predicts 3.5-day workweek for next generation thanks to AI

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is dismissing apocalyptic predictions about what AI means for humans, instead setting out how the technology would greatly improve firms and their people' work-life balance.

Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co speaks on September 25, 2019 in New York, US.

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Even Dimon, a staunch supporter of long-standing professional standards such as working hard, being prepared for everything, and working in the office, believes future generations of employees will work a day and a half less each week owing to AI.

Dimon forecasts that, in addition to the working week being reduced from five to three and a half days, employees will be able to live to the age of 100.

Thousands of employees at America's largest bank are already utilizing the technology, Dimon told Bloomberg TV, adding that artificial intelligence is a "living breathing thing" that will evolve over time.

JPMorgan may use the technology in a variety of areas, including mistakes, trading, research, and hedging, raising concerns that AI would replace human equivalents.

Goldman Sachs believes that nearly 300 million jobs would be lost to technology, with over a quarter of the American workforce afraid that artificial intelligence could replace them in the future.

However, Dimon pointed out that society have previously struggled with technological advancement, and that AI and massive language models provide enormous opportunity to enhance living conditions.

"People have to take a deep breath," Dimon said. "Technology has always displaced jobs. Your offspring will live to be 100 years old and free of disease thanks to technology, and they will most likely work three and a half days a week."

Employees might reduce their working hours thanks to technology that automates parts of their operations, according to a McKinsey analysis published last year.

The survey also discovered that generative AI and other developing technologies have the ability to automate processes that currently use 60% to 70% of employees' time, contributing between $2.6 trillion and $4.4 trillion to the global economy annually.

While businesses are still debating how rapidly AI will disrupt their industries, there are already calls to cut the number of days in the present working week.

A British study of 61 firms conducted by the University of Cambridge found a 65% reduction in sick days over a four-day work week, with 71% of employees reporting reduced levels of burnout. As a consequence, 92% of the employers participating in the initiative stated that they would maintain a three-day weekend.

Dimon and McKinsey are hardly the only economics heavyweights to forecast that technology will result in a shortened workweek. In his 1930 article, "Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren," economist John Maynard Keynes projected that his grandchildren's generation will work 15-hour weeks due to greater productivity. The current average for Keynes' U.K. is 36.4 hours.

Dimon, like many other thinking leaders, recognizes that the technology has the potential to be a formidable weapon in the wrong hands.

Dimon, echoing the worries of individuals such as Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak and Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, stated: "Technology has done incredible things for humanity, but, you know, aircraft crash, medications are misused—there are disadvantages.

"The biggest disadvantage, in my opinion, is that AI is being utilized by bad people to do bad things. Think about cyber warfare."

Dimon, like Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT developer OpenAI, wishes to see guardrails implemented in the field, but he acknowledges that this may take some time due to the technology's novelty.

The wealthy CEO of the New York-based bank also stated that the technology that replaces their employment may disturb some workers' lives. In JPMorgan Chase's situation, Dimon stated that he expects to "redeploy" any employees who are displaced by AI.

He cited parallels with JPMorgan's acquisition of First Republic in May 2023, when the latter bank faced a wave of banking instability before agreeing to a $10 billion deal.

"In the First Republic, we employed 90% of the population. They agreed, but we also informed them that some of those employment are temporary. But we recruit 30,000 people every year, so we hope to be able to place them in a local job in a different department or function if possible," Dimon added. "We'll be doing that with any dislocation that takes place as a result of AI."