#3 Marco Argenti gives Goldman Sachs coders an AI helper

Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors.
Want unlimited access to top ideas and insights? Subscribe Now

The delivery was gentle, but Marco Argenti experienced a shock the first time he heard "no" from an artificial intelligence agent.

Still, he realized the value of having a colleague, albeit an artificial one, that could challenge his ideas and nudge him toward better ones. Just like a human colleague who raises questions, it helps to build trust, said Argenti, chief information officer at Goldman Sachs . "If they just accept everything you say, then it's hard to delegate."

Argenti, who holds five patents and is a member of the firm's management committee, is responsible for much of what the firm is delegating to AI. He enabled the firmwide access of the GS AI Assistant, Goldman's natural language conversational application that leverages the GS AI Platform and has on average more than 1 million prompts per month since it was implemented last July.

Under Argenti's direction, Goldman is collaborating with Cognition Labs, an AI startup, to pilot the use of Devin, an autonomous software engineering program.

Goldman hoped to see its software developers become more productive, and the company has seen up to 20% in efficiency gains, Argenti said.

More importantly, AI's adoption has prompted a mindset change that he believes can be replicated in other areas of the bank where AI agents are introduced.

When developers wrote code, they focused on meeting the specs they were given. Argenti said. Now, developers identify an outcome, set specs, let the agentic AI do the coding and review the results for quality. In other words, they become managers of very smart junior colleagues.

"That's why I often say that the change management side of this evolution is probably the most critical one," Argenti said.

The change is spreading beyond the ranks of coders. Earlier this year, Goldman disclosed that it has been working with embedded engineers from AI company Anthropic to begin automating back-office functions.

Argenti joined Goldman in 2019 after stints with Amazon Web Services and Nokia, among other tech companies. It was a learning experience to move from the disruptive tech industry to the highly regulated financial industry, Argenti said. But he appreciates the more stringent controls, comparing it to the rules that govern Formula 1 racing.

"I like systems where there are strict rules so that you can really optimize around your work," he said.