JPMorgan Chase is leaning into the artificial intelligence boom in a way that could make some financial advisors uneasy. The firm, which topped the first-ever ranking of A.I. progress among banks this year, is creating an A.I. tool to help investors pick stocks.
On May 11, JPMorgan filed a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for "IndexGPT," an A.I. software service that can be used for the “selection of financial securities and financial assets.” The filing was first cited in a CNBC report.
Trademark attorney Josh Gerben told CNBC’s Hugh Son that the move is a “real indication” that JPMorgan might soon launch an A.I. product for investors. “Companies like JPMorgan don’t just file trademarks for the fun of it,” he said. “This sounds to me like they’re trying to put my financial advisor out of business.”
IndexGPT is likely to do more than just advise investors, too. JPMorgan’s trademark application also includes a reference to the technology being used in “financial investment in the field of securities” as well as “funds investment.” And it could potentially be used in everything from “advertising” and “marketing services” to clerical and administrative tasks.
That’s because JPMorgan filed its IndexGPT application for three separate international classes of trademark. The first is for “advertising and business” services, the second is for “insurance and financial” services, and the third is “computer and scientific” services, according to the United States Trademark and Patent Office.
A JPMorgan Chase representative declined to comment on the company’s trademark application and its recent push into artificial intelligence in an email to Fortune. It's unclear if or when the company will make its A.I. technology available to either its own employees or customers.
IndexGPT isn’t JPMorgan’s first move into A.I., however. In April, the investment bank’s economists began using an A.I. model that analyzes Federal Reserve communications to help predict the central bank’s next moves. And CEO Jamie Dimon has lauded recent developments in A.I. repeatedly over the past few years. In March, he said the technology was “staggering” in an interview with Bloomberg and briefly discussed how the bank plans to use it in a variety of ways.
“We're already using it to do risk, fraud, marketing, prospecting — and it's the tip of the iceberg. To me this is extraordinary,” he said.
Other big investment banks have also begun testing A.I. products recently. In March, Morgan Stanley announced that it is developing tools to help its wealth managers sift through and better understand the investment bank’s mountain of research on the economy and markets. In a similar move, Fortune’s Jeremy Kahn reported in April that Goldman Sachs is considering creating its own “ChatGS” A.I. technology to help financial advisors sort through data and better serve clients.
