Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan pointed out that AI investment is gradually gaining momentum, providing significant marginal support to the U.S. economy, and its impact will continue to amplify in the coming years. The bank forecasts that the U.S. economy will remain robust next year, with moderate slowdowns in the labor market but overall risks remaining manageable. He stated that even if the AI sector experiences a temporary pullback, its macroeconomic impact would be relatively limited.
Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America Corp., told the media on Monday that artificial intelligence (AI) is beginning to have a greater impact on the U.S. economy.
Moynihan said in an interview with the media:
"AI-related investments have continued to accumulate this year and may become an even stronger growth driver next year and in the years to follow. AI is playing an increasingly significant role. Of course, not all economic growth comes from AI, but its marginal impact is evident and substantial."
Having led Bank of America for nearly 15 years, Moynihan stated that the bank expects the U.S. economy to perform strongly next year, with GDP growth projected to reach 2.4%, higher than the approximately 2% level anticipated for 2025. He also noted that although the labor market has started to soften, this appears more like a normalization process in the job market.
In recent months, several AI companies, including OpenAI, have attracted billions of dollars in capital inflows as investors actively bet on the sector. However, corporate executives such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos have also warned that AI spending could form an 'industrial bubble,' potentially leading to some investment losses in the short term, though it will still have a positive impact on society in the long run.
Moynihan stated that Bank of America believes that if the AI industry overheats and subsequently cools down, the risk to the overall economy would be relatively limited, including minimal impacts on consumers and employment, as the industry is primarily concentrated among a small number of companies.
He said:
"As a lending institution, we will monitor the leverage levels of these projects to ensure we are comfortable with them, while also assessing whether the contract durations of clients committing to use data centers are sufficiently robust."
Moynihan also mentioned that Bank of America itself is actively utilizing AI. The company launched the intelligent assistant robot Erica in 2018. Currently, the number of questions Erica can answer has increased from the initial 200 to 700.
Moynihan stated:
"We will increasingly apply automated intelligence—or what we call augmented intelligence—where humans use AI tools to become more efficient. This will affect all areas of our business."
Editor/Stephen