June 29, 2026, (Inside AI) — Investment banking analysts, the entry-level cohort famed for hundred-hour weeks and meticulous spreadsheet tweaks, will not be swept away by generative AI. That is the consensus emerging from senior dealmakers at eight major banks, who told Reuters Breakingviews they have no plans to materially shrink analyst hiring—and a few are even recruiting more.
The two-year analyst programmes at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and elite boutiques remain the industry's proving ground. Managing directors (MDs) now use Claude or ChatGPT for meeting prep and earnings summaries, work once dumped on juniors. Yet the idea that large language models can replace the analysts outright is, for now, a mirage.
The core obstacle is trust. AI-generated financial models and pitchbooks are not yet reliable enough to present to a CFO. Hallucinated figures are a career-ending risk. Top analysts—the self-styled Olympic athletes of the spreadsheet—still must steer the AI, checking for errors like a wrong free cash flow definition. One MD likened LLMs to a performance-enhancing drug, not a substitute.
Structural economics also protect the junior ranks. MDs earn roughly five to ten times more than analysts. In a hypothetical M&A group with 20 MDs generating $120 million in revenue, 60 analysts earning $200,000 each would consume just 10% of the top line. Firing a fifth of them saves only $2.4 million, or 2% of revenue—a rounding error against operating margins around 20%. AI tooling costs could erase even that slim gain.
The risk of being understaffed during a deal boom looms larger. MDs told Breakingviews it would be foolish to chase a few margin points if it leaves the group short-handed when M&A activity surges. Someone must validate every AI-generated model. Moreover, the analyst pipeline remains the essential training ground for future MDs.
The more contentious question is whether the job will become more interesting. Optimists argue AI could free juniors to meet clients or research growth opportunities. Pessimists warn that, like the advent of Zoom, productivity gains will simply multiply the volume of slide decks and models demanded. One rainmaker noted that seniors never run out of deal ideas to pursue.
For the desk-bound analyst still working past midnight, the message is mixed: the job survives the AI onslaught, but the grueling hours might too.
