Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel, said artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming high-level financial research, warning that tasks once requiring teams of PhD-level professionals are now being completed by AI in a matter of days rather than months.
AI Reshaping Elite Finance Work
Speaking at the Stanford Leadership Forum earlier this month, Griffin described what he called a “step change function” in AI capabilities inside Citadel’s operations.
He said the firm is already using AI agents to perform complex analytical work that previously took weeks or even months for highly trained researchers.
“To be blunt, work that we would usually do with people with master’s and PhDs in finance over the course of weeks or months [is now] being done by AI agents over the course of hours or days,” Griffin said.
‘Extraordinarily High-Skilled Jobs’ Under Pressure
Griffin stressed that the shift is not limited to routine automation but is affecting top-tier white-collar roles.
“These are not mid-tier white-collar jobs,” he said. “These are extraordinarily high-skilled jobs being automated by agentic AI.”
He added that the pace of change caught him off guard. After witnessing the capabilities firsthand, Griffin said he went home “fairly depressed,” underscoring the emotional weight of AI’s accelerating impact.
Agentic AI Driving Productivity Surge
Griffin pointed to “agentic AI” systems—tools capable of independently executing multi-step tasks—as the key driver behind the productivity surge.
He said the technology has improved dramatically in recent months, enabling broader use cases across Citadel’s workflows.
According to Griffin, the gains are not incremental but transformative. “There has been a step change function in the productivity of the AI toolkit,” he said.
Workforce Adaptation and Lifelong Learning
Despite concerns over job disruption, Griffin noted that adaptability is essential for the future workforce.
He said professionals must continuously evolve their skills, arguing that “the journey of learning” never ends.
US Adds 115,000 Jobs In April, Unemployment Holds At 4.3%
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said total nonfarm payrolls increased by 115,000 in April 2026, while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%.
At the same time, average hourly earnings for private-sector workers on nonfarm payrolls rose 0.2% to $37.41.
The tech sector has seen a sharp rise in layoffs as companies ramp up spending on AI infrastructure, with more than 81,000 jobs cut in the first quarter of 2026.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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