OpenAI (PC:OPAIQ) has quietly hired more than 100 former Wall Street analysts and associates to help its AI models learn financial work. The project, called Project Mercury, pays about $150 per hour and brings in people from major firms such as JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS), and Morgan Stanley (MS). It also includes professionals from Brookfield (BN), Evercore (EVR), and KKR (KKR), along with MBA students from Harvard and MIT.
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The contractors are teaching OpenAI’s systems how to handle the detailed tasks junior bankers usually do. These include building Excel models, writing financial summaries, and updating presentation slides. Each contractor is asked to submit one model per week that meets industry standards. Their work helps train the company’s models to create and review real-world banking documents more effectively.
How Project Mercury Works
OpenAI uses an AI chatbot to run a 20-minute interview with each applicant before giving financial tests and modeling exercises. Once accepted, participants get early access to OpenAI’s developing tools and receive feedback from the system after submitting their work. The process is designed to improve the AI’s understanding of how bankers analyze and present financial data.
The goal is to automate the routine and time-consuming work that young analysts often face. For example, a large share of investment banking involves long hours of building models and adjusting presentations. Automating these steps could save firms time and money while also changing how they train new employees.
Why It Matters
This project reflects OpenAI’s effort to find practical uses for its technology in major industries. Despite its $500 billion valuation, the company still needs to show clear paths to profit. By applying its models to fields like banking, consulting, and law, OpenAI hopes to create tools that professionals can use to speed up daily work.
Some experts say this shift could reshape early-career roles in finance. A report from Stanford researchers found that jobs in AI-exposed fields for workers aged 22 to 25 have already declined by 13% since 2022. Others warn that removing basic tasks from entry-level roles may limit how future bankers learn essential skills. Meanwhile, banks such as JPMorgan Chase have already said that AI is improving productivity and influencing hiring plans.
Overall, Project Mercury shows how quickly AI is moving into complex professional areas. OpenAI’s experiment in finance could soon serve as a model for how automation changes both high-end office work and corporate hiring strategies.
Using TipRanks’ Comparison Tool, we’ve compared some of the notable companies that employ chatbots similar to Claude and ChatGPT. It’s a great way for investors to gain a comprehensive examination of each stock and the AI industry as a whole.
