Business & Finance

Goldman Sachs Restricts AI Coding Tools to Engineers and Strats

By TOI Tech Desk

Goldman Sachs has limited access to advanced AI coding tools, such as Anthropic’s Claude Code and Microsoft’s GitHub, to engineers and its strats—employees who bridge trading, quantitative research and software engineering. Traders, bankers and other non‑technical staff who had been using the tools for months have lost access. The change follows an internal review of productivity and risk, according to a Goldman spokesperson, Nick Carcaterra, who told Bloomberg that the firm offers AI tools to staff to determine where they work best. After the trial period ends, the tools are placed “in the hands of those who are best suited to leverage them.”

The restriction does not apply to strats. Traders report that they had used the tools to track client trading flows, model market moves and positions, and produce written and graphic content. Losing that speed is felt quickly on trading desks.

Goldman had previously encouraged “vibe coding” by traders and bankers. In July, chief information officer Marco Argenti described non‑technical staff building their own fixes with AI and handing them to one of the firm’s 12,000 engineers for refinement. Earlier this year, the bank limited the use of Anthropic’s Claude for its Hong Kong staff.

The bank is not stepping back from AI. It has developed an in‑house AI assistant that combines models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google parent Alphabet. In May, John Waldron, seen as the likely successor to CEO David Solomon, compared the bank to an assembly line run by people and said much of that work could be automated.

Goldman’s policy reflects a broader Wall Street rethink. Firms are spending millions on AI tools while dealing with cybersecurity concerns, rising costs and uneven productivity gains. JPMorgan Chase, for example, said in July it wanted employees to match models to tasks so that the priciest option is not used for basic tasks such as summarising an analyst report. Goldman’s move follows a similar line, applying it to coding assistants. For now, only engineers and strats have access, and traders who had built daily workflows around Claude Code and GitHub will need to find alternative ways to complete their work.