Goldman Sachs, Anthropic build Claude‑powered "digital co‑workers" to automate bank operations

Goldman accelerates Claude-powered “digital co‑workers” with Anthropic

Goldman Sachs is embedding engineers from artificial intelligence startup Anthropic to co-develop autonomous AI agents that automate a growing set of bank operations, Chief Information Officer Marco Argenti tells CNBC. The collaboration, which spans about six months, uses Anthropic’s Claude model to build agents that Argenti describes as “digital co-workers,” aiming to dramatically shorten the time required for process‑intensive tasks such as accounting for trades and transaction reconciliations and client vetting and onboarding. Goldman is moving the work from pilot to production readiness and expects to deploy agents “soon,” he says.

The effort builds on Goldman’s internal testing of an autonomous coding assistant called Devin, now broadly available to its engineers, and finds Claude proficient not only at coding but at rule‑based reasoning that requires parsing large volumes of documents and data. Argenti says the agents are in early stages but already demonstrate aptitude for accounting and compliance workflows that have long constrained middle‑ and back‑office efficiency. The bank frames the technology as a way to scale complex, repeatable processes while preserving human oversight for judgment‑heavy decisions.

Goldman balances the push for automation with robust risk controls and compliance oversight as it pilots the agents, Argenti adds, noting the bank is designing guardrails to preserve client safety and meet regulatory obligations. He flags potential future uses that include faster pitchbook production, enhanced client onboarding and even employee surveillance tools, but says deployment is proceeding cautiously to align with legal and operational standards. The initiative sits within a broader multi‑year reorganisation at Goldman around generative AI announced by Chief Executive David Solomon, which aims to reshape workflows and constrain headcount growth while lifting productivity.

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