Is JPMorgan Chase Right to Let AI Conduct Employee Reviews?

AI is increasing efficiency and driving productivity in the workplace, however its increased adoption is also blurring the line between human and machine.

Led by CEO Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase is taking its AI use one step further, announcing it will give employees the option to use AI to write annual performance reviews, according to a report by the Financial Times.

Employees can use the US bank’s large language model (LLM) to generate a review based on prompts they give the software - a shortcut designed to speed up the process of writing multiple reviews required by large companies.

The company rolled out LLM Suite to staff in early 2024, with the bank saying that it onboarded 200,000 users within the first eight months of its introduction.

Discussing its success in a July 2024 memo to employees, the bank said: “Think of LLM Suite as a research analyst that can offer information, solutions and advice on topic.”

It was signed by execs including CEO of JPMorgan’s Asset and Wealth Management Business Mary Callahan Erdoes and Chief Information Officer Mike Urciuoli.

According to JPMorgan, the suite was developed in house to provide secure access to third-party AI systems.

AI in use at JPMorgan

At the start of 2025, JPMorgan acknowledged that AI is core to its US$18bn tech investment. Now, the bank is turning its attention to a training push.

In an interview with McKinsey and Co. on 29 October, Chief Analytics Officer (CAO) Derek Waldron said the goal is to educate its worldwide workforce on how to make AI work for every single employee.

He said: “Training needs are varied, just like AI applications. The best way to approach this is segment by segment.

“First, the employee base at large: we need to train them to get comfortable using and understanding AI tools now available and think about how to put them to good use daily.”

Derek also mentioned the bank's 'AI Made Easy’ training programme that tens of thousands of employees have been involved with.

In the interview, he discussed how everyone will have to make changes, not just non-tech employees, saying: “Software engineers need to be upskilled to build scalable systems based on agents and LLM components.”

The systems and components developed will change the way employees in the company can work, and be positioned to “innovate and put it to good use”.

Other banks using AI

JPMorgan is not alone in this endeavour. Citigroup is also accelerating its AI plans.

Over the summer, it doubled down on its AI ambitions with CEO Jane Fraser aiming to modernise the company through tech-transformation.

According to Business Insider, Citigroup’s leadership sent out an internal memo in June from senior executives including the CEO, Head of US Personal Banking Gonzalo Luchetti and Head of Technology and Business Enablement Tim Ryan, stating: “We are focusing on accelerating our AI strategy - connecting teams and partners, prioritising resources and expediting use cases across our business and function.”

They said they are doing this through focus on new tools, pilot programmes and a broader effort to embed AI across operations.

According to Business Insider, in mid-October Jane said that nearly 180,000 employees in 83 countries have access to the bank’s proprietary AI tools and have saved 100,000 developer hours a week with automated code reviews.

She said this during the firm’s Q3 earnings call, calling its successes “a very meaningful productivity lift”.

The bank also launched the pilot of agentic AI for 5,000 colleagues in September.

Another bank with AI commitments is Goldman Sachs. It has put US$6bn behind its technology spend this year, but at a conference in early October, CEO David Solomon said he wished it would be greater.

The firm introduced its own internal AI assistant to employees this summer.

Marco Argenti, the Chief Information Officer at Goldman Sachs, said in an interview with Business Insider in April: “It’s like the ultimate librarian that knows how to find the information.”

The introduction of AI across the bank-scape is encouraging employees at all levels to incorporate AI into their daily work to increase efficiency and accuracy - and stay ahead of the curve.