Goldman Sachs Hires Its First AI Coder—and It's a Game-Changer

​Wall Street just welcomed a new kind of employee—and it doesn’t drink coffee, take lunch breaks, or need a 401(k). Meet Devin, the autonomous AI software engineer being tested by Goldman Sachs in a move that could redefine the tech workforce at big banks.

Developed by startup Cognition, Devin is being rolled out as part of Goldman’s efforts to beef up its 12,000-person developer team. But Devin isn’t here to just shadow humans—it’s here to work. According to Goldman tech chief Marco Argenti, this bot can act as a full-stack engineer, capable of tackling complex multi-step coding tasks with minimal human input.

From Demo to Deployment
Cognition made waves last year by claiming to have built the world’s first AI software engineer. Now, Goldman is the first major bank to take the plunge and integrate it into daily operations. The goal? Scale up to hundreds or even thousands of Devins, depending on how well the pilot goes.

Argenti says the initial focus is on drudge work—things like upgrading internal code to newer programming languages. Tedious for humans. Tailor-made for AI.

Big Potential, Bigger Questions
The move signals a turning point for the financial sector. Goldman isn’t just using AI to summarize documents or draft emails. Devin’s role falls under a newer wave of “agentic AI,” meaning it can actually build apps, test systems, and solve problems end-to-end—just like a human developer.

Tech giants like Microsoft and Salesforce are already reporting that 30% to 50% of their code is written by AI. At Goldman, Devin is expected to boost productivity three to four times compared to previous AI tools.

But the rise of autonomous coders isn’t without friction. Goldman’s move is likely to reignite anxiety over job cuts. A January report suggested banks could eliminate up to 200,000 jobs in the next five years due to AI. Argenti, however, painted a vision of a “hybrid workforce”—where people and machines work side by side. Think engineers turning problems into prompts and managing the work of digital teammates.

What’s Next?
Devin’s parent company, Cognition, is no slouch. The startup—valued at nearly $4 billion—is backed by major VC players including Peter Thiel and Joe Lonsdale. And while Goldman doesn’t hold equity in Cognition, its early adoption could put competitive pressure on peers like JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley to follow suit.

​Bottom line? Goldman’s pilot isn’t just another flashy AI headline. It’s a signal that the future of work on Wall Street might not involve more humans—it might involve smarter machines. And Devin could be just the beginning.