Latest news with #MarcoArgenti
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Goldman Sachs doesn't have to hire a $180,000 software engineer—meet Devin, its new AI-powered worker
Goldman Sachs just hired Devin, an AI-powered software engineer that's capable of coding just as well as humans—minus six-figure salaries. The company also has plans to potentially unleash it by the thousands and expand workers' productivity with AI tools by over four times. While the firm's tech leader sees a future that's a 'hybrid workforce' between humans and AI, leaders like Ford CEO Jim Farley warn of a decrease in white-collar work. The newest hire at Goldman Sachs won't be able to have a coffee chat with co-worker Rishi Sunak, or attend the firm's after-work happy hour—rather, it'll be working all day on its coding assignments. The Wall Street investment bank recently unveiled it had hired Devin: a new AI-powered autonomous software engineer, created by AI startup Cognition. With the tool being capable of conducting end-to-end coding tasks, Goldman hopes it will improve worker productivity by up to three or four times the rate of previous AI tools, according to Goldman's chief information officer Marco Argenti. 'We're going to start augmenting our workforce with Devin, which is going to be like our new employee who's going to start doing stuff on the behalf of our developers,' Argenti recently told CNBC. Goldman Sachs plans to launch Devin by the hundreds—maybe eventually even by the thousands, Argenti added—joining the nearly 12,000 existing software engineers at the company. He said this move will hopefully help usher in a 'hybrid workforce' era where humans and AI coexist. 'It's really about people and AIs working side by side,' Argenti said. 'Engineers are going to be expected to have the ability to really describe problems in a coherent way and turn it into prompts … and then be able to supervise the work of those agents.' Fortune reached out to Goldman Sachs for comment. Despite the push to launch Devin, Goldman is continuing to hire software engineers, with dozens of open roles around the world. The salary of some New York-based associate roles start out at around $115,000 annually—and can even extend to $180,000. But business leaders have warned that these early career roles are the ones that AI might make obsolete the soonest. For example, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicted that AI could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs within five years. Ford CEO Jim Farley went even further, and warned that all white-collar work could disappear in the U.S.—beyond those early in their careers. 'There's more than one way to the American Dream, but our whole education system is focused on four-year [college] education,' Farley said at the Aspen Ideas Festival last month. 'Hiring an entry worker at a tech company has fallen 50% since 2019. Is that really where we want all of our kids to go? Artificial intelligence is gonna replace literally half of all white-collar workers in the U.S.' For the banking industry in particular, this AI-driven workforce transformation could lead to 200,000 fewer people on Wall Street within the next three to five years, according to Bloomberg. However, Argenti said that those who choose to embrace AI will be best equipped for a successful future—and it's especially important for young talent facing dwindling entry-level roles. 'The AI shift is happening in years, not decades,' Argenti wrote in a commentary piece for Fortune. 'Workers who lack proficiency in leveraging AI tools will fall behind, and those who have learned to harness it to elevate their work will advance,' he added. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Arabian Post
13-07-2025
- Business
- Arabian Post
Goldman Sachs Embraces Devin as Agentic AI Coder
Goldman Sachs has begun deploying 'Devin,' an autonomous coding agent developed by London-based startup Cognition, as part of its technology workforce, Chief Information Officer Marco Argenti confirmed to CNBC. The bank plans to roll out hundreds, potentially thousands, of Devin instances working alongside its approximately 12,000 human software engineers. Argenti described Devin as a 'new employee' that will augment rather than replace human programmers, forming what he called a 'hybrid workforce' model. Under this arrangement, human engineers will supervise agentic AI, utilising Devin to handle routine or repetitive tasks such as updating legacy systems, freeing them to focus on more complex problems. Introduced last year, Devin is billed as the first AI software engineer capable of full-stack development. It functions autonomously, making decisions across coding tasks using natural language prompts. Early demos impressed observers, though some testing exposed limitations. In one evaluation, Devin completed only 3 out of 20 tasks successfully, and while it outperformed typical large language model chatbots, it still required oversight for errors and oversight. ADVERTISEMENT Cognition – now valued at around $4 billion and backed by investors including Joe Lonsdale and Peter Thiel – updated Devin to version 2.1 in May. The startup says the model excels in large codebases where ample context is available. Goldman's move builds on its firm‑wide deployment of GS AI Assistant, a generative AI platform already used by tens of thousands of employees for drafting content, summarising documents, and analysing data. GS AI Assistant integrates multiple large language models, including OpenAI and Google Gemini. The introduction of Devin raises broader questions about automation's impact on the financial sector. Bloomberg Intelligence warned that AI adoption could put up to 200,000 banking jobs at risk globally over the next three to five years. However, Goldman maintains that AI agents like Devin will bolster human productivity rather than replace it. Argenti emphasised that engineers will need to 'describe problems coherently, turn them into prompts and supervise', highlighting a shift in human roles toward management and oversight of AI systems. Within Goldman, internal data suggests productivity gains of 20 per cent among teams using AI tools, according to statements by President John Waldron. Competitors are also deepening their AI investments. JPMorgan has rolled out internal generative-AI tools to its 60,000 staff, while Morgan Stanley and Citigroup have launched assistants for client reports and document handling. Nevertheless, specialists caution that agentic AI systems like Devin remain imperfect. Code generated by AI may introduce bugs or security vulnerabilities, necessitating stringent review protocols. Moreover, studies hint that less experienced developers might slow down when overly reliant on AI tools, prompting concerns about atrophy of critical thinking. To address these challenges, experts advise that organisations establish robust supervision frameworks and ensure AI collaboration enhances human judgment. Argenti advocates a philosophy-infused approach to software engineering, urging developers to 'study philosophy alongside technical skills' to enhance critical thinking and ethical oversight. Goldman's integration of Devin represents one of the most significant adoptions of agentic AI in the corporate world. By bringing Devin into its engineering ranks, the bank hopes to accelerate software development, reduce repetitive workloads, and better allocate technical talent—though the long-term effects on workforce composition and skills development remain uncertain. Analysts emphasise that AI agents won't eliminate human roles overnight. Jobs requiring nuanced judgment and relationship-building—such as senior developers, client-facing roles and compliance officers—are expected to remain. Yet, routine positions involving standardised tasks may face greater pressure.
Fast Company
11-07-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Meet Devin: Goldman Sachs' new AI software engineer that never sleeps
An AI called Devin just landed a job on Wall Street. Goldman Sachs just 'hired' an AI software engineer made by the startup Cognition. Goldman Chief Information Officer Marco Argenti told CNBC that the company plans to 'augment' its workforce with the AI tool, which will execute tasks on behalf of its more than 10,000 human software developers. 'Initially, we will have hundreds of Devins [and] that might go into the thousands, depending on the use cases,' Argenti said. Wall Street has been wading in and exploring AI in the last couple of years, but Goldman's push to integrate autonomous AI agents might be the finance sector's first plunge into the deep end. A brief history of Devin Cognition introduced the technology, which it hailed as the world's 'first AI software engineer,' last year. That tech, known as Devin, was designed to execute software engineering tasks independently, making thousands of decisions along the way. Using natural language prompts, programmers can put Devin to work doing complex tasks like building an app or finding and fixing bugs in a codebase. Cognition describes Devin as a 'a tireless, skilled teammate, equally ready to build alongside you or independently complete tasks for you to review' – a description as likely to strike fear in the hearts of workers as it is to have executives seeing dollar signs. Shortly after its launch, the founder of prominent AI search engine Perplexity praised Cognition's Devin as the first AI agent 'that seems to cross the threshold of what is human level and works reliably.' The company was valued at $4 billion in March after raising hundreds of millions in investment led by 8VC, an early stage venture capital firm founded by Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale. Cognition is obviously leaning on Devin's anthropomorphic branding to generate buzz and make Devin feel like a one to one substitute for a human that can write code, but so far that strategy seems to be working. Like most promising new technologies, the marketing doesn't always match reality – at least not yet. When one group of data scientists put Devin to the test, they found that the AI software engineer only successfully completed three of 20 proposed tasks, with 14 of the test projects being total flops. In benchmark tests, Devin performed twice as well as an LLM-based chatbot, but didn't deliver on the promise of operating fully autonomously. AI-generated code can also pose its own problems for companies, with bugs leading to downtime and security risks being glossed over due to less human involvement in the process. What is agentic AI? Agentic AI is yet another AI buzzword, but it does mean something specific. Unlike chatbots or AI research tools that people are most likely to interact with, agentic AI is designed to execute tasks and make decisions on its own without constant human input (hence the emphasis on agency in 'agentic'). The ability to execute multi-step jobs from start to finish means these tools work more how humans do, pursuing set goals and completing various kinds of tasks to get there. While generative AI is focused on generating outputs, like writing a draft email or compiling research, agentic AI is all about executing tasks and taking action, though how those systems accomplish that and the degree to which they are successful is up to their design. Wall Street wades in Goldman Sachs seems to be the only major bank implementing a start-to-finish AI coding tool like Devin, but its competitors likely aren't far behind. AI assistants and chatbots are used widely on Wall Street already as big banks look for a competitive edge and pour investment into AI-related hires and technology. JPMorgan Chase introduced its own generative AI assistant internally last year, making the tool available to 60,000 employees who can leverage it to write emails and file reports. Morgan Stanley similarly provided financial advisors with internal tools running OpenAI's tech under the hood. 'We are completely convinced the consequences will be extraordinary and possibly as transformational as some of the major technological inventions of the past several hundred years,' JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said in bullish comments on AI last year, adding that he expects the technology to 'augment virtually every job.' While AI chatbots and other lower-level tools are approaching ubiquity, adoption of agentic AI isn't there yet. In a report last year, Deloitte predicted that a quarter of companies already using generative AI would begin exploring agentic AI in 2025, but risks from the technology's relative lack of human oversight means companies will move more slowly to fully implement it.
TechCrunch
11-07-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
Goldman Sachs is testing viral AI agent Devin as a ‘new employee'
In Brief Cognition's AI coding agent Devin has scored a major customer: Goldman Sachs, the bank's CIO, Marco Argenti, told CNBC. 'We're going to start augmenting our workforce with Devin, which is going to be like our new employee,' Argenti told the outlet, adding that it plans to roll out hundreds of instances of Devin, potentially growing to thousands. The bank currently employs around 12,000 human developers, it says. Despite the financial industry's reputation for being slow and stodgy, Goldman Sachs tends to be cutting edge, and it's been internally using developer copilots since at least 2024, it said. Devin is an interesting choice. When Cognition released it last year, it blew up on social media. Some researchers then found that it struggled with more complex coding work. As of May, Devin is now on version 2.1, and Cognition says, performs best on large codebases that provide it with ample context. Devin won't replace humans at the bank. Argenti advocates for a 'hybrid' workforce, so instances of it will be supervised by a human and, he hopes, improve their productivity.
CNBC
11-07-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Goldman Sachs is piloting its first autonomous coder in major AI milestone for Wall Street
The newest hire at Goldman Sachs isn't human. The bank is testing an autonomous software engineer from artificial intelligence startup Cognition that is expected to soon join the ranks of the firm's 12,000 human developers, Goldman tech chief Marco Argenti told CNBC. The program, named Devin, became known in technology circles last year with Cognition's claim that it had created the world's first AI software engineer. Demo videos showed the program operating as a full-stack engineer, completing multi-step assignments with minimal intervention. "We're going to start augmenting our workforce with Devin, which is going to be like our new employee who's going to start doing stuff on the behalf of our developers," Argenti said this week in an interview. "Initially, we will have hundreds of Devins [and] that might go into the thousands, depending on the use cases," he said. It's the latest indicator of the dizzying speed in which AI is being adopted in the corporate world. Just last year, Wall Street firms including JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley were rolling out cognitive assistants based on OpenAI models to get employees acquainted with the technology. Now, the arrival of agentic AI on Wall Street — referencing programs like Devin that don't just help humans with tasks like summarizing documents or writing emails, but instead execute complex multi-step jobs like building entire apps — signals a much larger shift, with greater potential rewards. Tech giants including Microsoft and Alphabet have said AI is already producing about 30% of the code on some projects, and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said last month that AI handles as much as 50% of the work at his company. At Goldman Sachs, one of the world's top investment banks, this more powerful form of AI has the potential to boost worker productivity by up to three or four times the rate of previous AI tools, according to Argenti. Devin will be supervised by human employees and will handle jobs that engineers often consider drudgery, like updating internal code to newer programing languages, he said. Goldman is the first major bank to use Devin, according to Cognition, which was founded in late 2023 by a trio of engineers and whose staff is reportedly stocked with champion coders. In March, the startup doubled its valuation to nearly $4 billion just a year after the release of Devin. The company counts Peter Thiel and Joe Lonsdale, the prominent venture capitalists and Palantir co-founders, among its investors. Goldman doesn't own a stake in Cognition, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who declined to be identified speaking about the bank's investments. The bank's move could spark a fresh round of anxiety on Wall Street and beyond about job cuts as a result of AI. Executives at companies from Amazon to Ford have grown more candid about what AI will mean for hiring plans. Banks around the world will cut as many as 200,000 jobs in the next three to five years as they implement AI, Bloomberg's research arm said in January. For his part, Argenti — who joined Goldman from Amazon in 2019 — charted out a vision for the near future that he called a "hybrid workforce" where humans and AI coexist. "It's really about people and AIs working side-by-side," Argenti said. "Engineers are going to be expected to have the ability to really describe problems in a coherent way and turn it into prompts … and then be able to supervise the work of those agents." While the role of software developer is one that most lends itself to the type of training, called reinforcement learning, that is used to make AI smarter, other roles at a bank aren't far off from being automated, according to Argenti. "Those models are basically just as good as any developer, it's really cool," Argenti said. "So I think that will serve as a proof point also to expand it to other places."
