What changed and who it affects
Goldman tightened access to advanced coding AI after weighing productivity and risk concerns. Internal guidance updated in October now keeps Anthropic PBC's Claude Code and Microsoft Corp.'s GitHub in the hands of engineers for work.
Before the shift, bankers had used those tools for months. Earlier this year, the firm also imposed a location-specific restriction on staff in Hong Kong using Anthropic's Claude.
How desks used the tools and the internal mood
A person familiar with the matter said some traders tapped these tools to move faster on tasks like watching client trading flows, modeling market moves and positions, and drafting both written and graphic content. The rollback has irritated some on trading desks.
As recently as July, Chief Information Officer Marco Argenti praised "vibe coding" by non-technical employees, including traders and bankers. He said those teams built solutions with AI and then passed them to the firm's roughly 12,000 engineers to enhance. Another person said the newest guidance excludes "strats," whose work bridges trading, quantitative research, and software engineering.
Thoughtful use of new tools can help investors gain a clearer edge. We're hosting our first ever investor livestream on 11/17 to show you how to use ChatGPT and Claude to invest like a pro, hosted by Briefs Finance CEO Jaspreet Singh. Save your seat.
Why Goldman made the call and the broader backdrop
"We make certain AI tools available to our people to determine the best use cases across different parts of the firm," said spokesperson Nick Carcaterra. "After a period of experimentation where we assess a variety of factors including productivity and risk management, we put them in the hands of those who are best suited to leverage them for the long term."
Wall Street is still writing its AI playbook. Banks are investing heavily while working through cybersecurity, cost and productivity tradeoffs. In July, JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it wants employees to match the task to the right model to avoid paying for a premium system to do simple work like summarizing an analyst report. Goldman has also built an AI assistant that pulls from models by OpenAI, Anthropic and Alphabet Inc.
Deals and automation ambitions
AI is fueling more fee opportunities too. Goldman serves as the lead underwriter on Anthropic's blockbuster IPO, and it has also partnered with Nvidia Corp. to organize sizable debt financings.
What this means for your portfolio
Access rules shape how quickly banks can turn AI into productivity and margin gains while controlling risk and cost. That makes tool governance a real input to earnings, tech budgets and, ultimately, valuation multiples.
Investors who learn to evaluate tools thoughtfully often make more confident choices. On 11/17, our CEO Jaspreet Singh goes live for our first ever investor livestream on how to use ChatGPT and Claude to invest like a pro. Register to join him.
