The US economy creates and destroys about 30 million jobs a year and usually ends up with about a million more created than lost. David Solomon, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, told Goldman Sachs Exchanges that this record is why he sits with the optimists on AI and employment.
The public argument over AI tends to offer two choices: let innovation run with no guardrails, or regulate it and accept slower progress. David said that framing leaves out the companies that put AI into their own products, which he called the layer of responsibility that gets the least attention.
"I think the debate is missing nuance. Most things that are complex and important aren't so binary."
David has worked in finance for 40 years, and Goldman has run AI-driven trading platforms for two decades with a person accountable behind every one of them. That history is the model he offered other industries.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 17 minutes of audio, 6 minutes of reading.
Here are the 6 arguments that matter.
Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Oct 27, 2026 · 17m · 11m saved
With David Solomon, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs
Key Takeaways
Companies that deploy AI are the third layer of accountability, alongside governments and the labs that build the models
Goldman would never accept the excuse that a trading platform "did something awful on its own"
The US creates and destroys about 30 million jobs a year, and David puts himself in the optimistic camp on AI and work
His caveat: policy may be needed if disruption outpaces new jobs
Productivity gains do not have to eliminate the job, as junior analysts' roles over his career show
Goldman has committed $500 million to a Small Business AI Institute, aimed at the companies that drive 60% to 65% of US job creation
AI's market path will include "accelerations and pullbacks", though David is not worried about its long-term durability
1. Who Answers for AI
David built the conversation on an op-ed he published the Friday before. Criticism of it, he said, assumed the debate had only two sides.
David Solomon rejects the choice between unchecked AI innovation and slow, heavy regulation
"I think it's a much more nuanced discussion. I think we absolutely can spur great innovation with this technology, but we have to have rules of the road. There have to be guardrails." — David Solomon
He described three layers of responsibility. Governments set the "rules of the road." The labs and infrastructure providers that build the models answer for what they build. The third layer is the enterprises that deploy AI into their own products and services, which he said gets the least attention.
The labs that build AI models must answer for whether those models work and do no harm
"The people that are developing these models... have to take responsibility for what they're building and that it works and that it doesn't do harm." — David Solomon
