The Zhitong Finance App learned that J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM.US) is reportedly developing a software service similar to ChatGPT that can provide investment advice to customers. According to documents submitted by J.P. Morgan Chase, the bank applied for a trademark for a product called IndexGPT this month. IndexGPT will use “cloud computing software using artificial intelligence” to “analyze and select securities suited to customer needs.”
Last year, ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot launched by OpenAI, quickly became popular, forcing the entire industry to grapple with the advent of artificial intelligence.
There are a number of possible uses for this technology in the financial sector. A number of banks, including Goldman Sachs (GS.US) and Morgan Stanley (MS.US), have begun internal testing. This includes helping Goldman Sachs engineers write code or answer questions from Morgan Stanley financial advisors.
Josh Gerben, a trademark attorney in Washington, DC, said that J.P. Morgan may be the first established financial company that intends to launch GPT-like products directly to customers.
“It's a real sign that they might launch a potential product in the near future,” Gerben said.
“Companies like J.P. Morgan don't apply for trademarks just for fun,” he said. The document included “an affidavit from the company's management, which basically said, 'Yes, we plan to use this trademark. '”
The lawyer said J.P. Morgan must launch IndexGPT within about three years of approval to ensure trademark safety. Due to the backlog of applications from the US Patent and Trademark Office, it usually takes almost a year for a trademark to be approved, he said.
But the J.P. Morgan document does clearly state that IndexGPT uses artificial intelligence technology similar to ChatGPT; the bank plans to use artificial intelligence driven by generative pre-training (GPT) models.
“This is an artificial intelligence program that selects financial securities,” Gerben said. “It seems to me that they want my financial advisor out of business.”
The fear of intermediaries
Financial advisors have long feared that advances in technology will replace their role in the market. To a large extent, these concerns have yet to be realized.
Wealth management companies, including Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, a subsidiary of Bank of America (BAC.US), provide simple robo-advisory services, but that hasn't stopped their human advisors from accumulating billions of dollars in assets.
Earlier this week, J.P. Morgan executives touted their progress in applying artificial intelligence to various businesses at the company's annual investor conference.
Lori Beer, head of global technology at J.P. Morgan, said the bank employs 1,500 data scientists and machine learning engineers and is testing “multiple use cases” of GPT technology.
“We can't discuss artificial intelligence without mentioning GPT and large-scale language models,” Beer said. We've recognized the power and opportunity of these tools and are committed to exploring all of the ways they create value for companies.”