Jamie Dimon calls AI an 'absolute necessity,' warns 'bad guys will be using it, too'

Seemingly referring to tech leaders' calls to pause AI development, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon warns 'bad guys' will use the technology whether companies do or not

Jamie Dimon, CEO of financial titan JP Morgan Chase, spoke in favor of artificial intelligence development, warning that "bad guys" would be utilizing the technology whether mainstream companies do or not.

Dimon made the comment in the JP Morgan Chase Annual Report for 2022 — in a section titled "AI, Data, and Our Journey to the Cloud."

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
JPM JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. 198.77 +1.27 +0.64%

"AI and data use is complex; it must be done following the laws of the land," Dimon wrote. "But it is an absolute necessity that we do it both for the benefits I just described and, equally, for the protection of the company and the financial system – because you can be certain that the bad guys will be using it, too."

TECH EXPERTS SLAM LETTER CALLING FOR AI PAUSE THAT CITED THEIR RESEARCH: 'FEARMONGERING'

Big bank CEOs testifying before congress

Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., second right, speaks during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing in Washington, D.C. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The comments seem to be in response to a growing demand from tech leaders for the development of AI to be paused.

Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and a host of other tech leaders and artificial intelligence experts urged AI labs to pause development of powerful new AI systems in an open letter last month, citing potential risks to society.

The letter asked developers to "immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4." GPT-4 is the latest deep learning model from OpenAI, which "exhibits human-level performance on various professional and academic benchmarks," according to the lab. 

TECH CEO WARNS AI RISKS 'HUMAN EXTINCTION' AS EXPERTS RALLY BEHIND SIX-MONTH PAUSE

ChatGPT open on phone and background

It was issued by the Future of Life Institute and signed by more than 1,000 people, including Musk, who argued that safety protocols need to be developed by independent overseers to guide the future of AI systems. 

"Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable," the letter said.

Dimon, however, championed the technology and stressed that it must be a cornerstone of JP Morgan Chase's operations moving forward.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS

Elon Musk

Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., in San Francisco. (Marlena Sloss/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

"AI and the raw material that feeds it, data, will be critical to our company’s future success — the importance of implementing new technologies simply cannot be overstated," Dimon wrote.

Dimon claimed that AI has helped the company decrease risk by minimizing fraud and optimizing portfolio construction.

The CEO continued, "All of our technology groups firmwide work together in a flywheel of innovation and deliver state-of-the-art improvements. We are proud that our AI teams have contributed top-quality novel research and compelling solutions that are transforming more and more business cases every day."

FOX Business' Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.