BlackRock CEO Larry Fink says AI will boost productivity, worker pay

BlackRock Inc’s Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said that his firm’s investment in artificial intelligence will ultimately raise his employees’ pay.

“If we continue to drive more productivity, what it also means is rising wages,” Fink said on the company’s earnings call Friday. “So people do more, and the whole organization is doing more with less people. That is really our ambition.”

Fink credited the firm’s investment in AI with helping it hit a record $10.5 trillion in client assets. “As we continue to be investing in AI, our most recent experience of having $2.5 trillion more assets with the same headcount is a real good indication of how we are trying to drive more efficiencies, more productivity,” he said.

Over the last year, BlackRock’s CEO has established a reputation as one of Wall Street’s most bullish on AI’s potential, arguing it will boost productivity and curb inflation. But whether AI will help or hurt employees’ paychecks is still an open question.

Some executives and economists say that AI may raise pay by allowing employees to automate menial tasks and instead focus on more complex and creative work.

“AI increases productivity, helps you do a better and a faster job,” Sander van’t Noordende, CEO of staffing agency Randstad, told CNBC. “It's freeing up time to do more high-value things.”

But the opposite may also be true. Other economists argue that even if a company becomes more productive with AI, those gains won’t necessarily go to workers in the form of higher salaries.

And according to a New York Times report, top executives at major US banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have debated hiring fewer entry-level workers and slashing their pay, since the technology will make the jobs easier than before.