Redefining the Analyst: how AI is transforming finance and accounting talent needs

In what may become a landmark moment for the staffing and finance industries, OpenAI has quietly embarked on a project to recruit more than 100 former investment-banking analysts and associates from firms such as JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to train its AI systems in financial modelling.  These contractors are reportedly paid around US$150 per hour to build prompts, develop Excel-based models, provide feedback and shape how AI can replicate tasks traditionally done by junior bankers. 

From a staffing market vantage point (especially one focused on recruitment, skills supply and the shifting shape of work), this development is significant as it signals an acceleration of automation into parts of finance that were long considered “safe” from technology: not just data-entry or routine helpdesk tasks, but investment banking modelling, restructuring workflow and other high-skilled, front-office functions. Below is an analysis of the implications.

What’s happening

The initiative, internally code-named “Project Mercury,” appears designed to train AI models to handle tasks such as building IPO models, leveraged-buyout projections, restructuring scenario modelling and the like, functions typically assigned to junior analyst teams in major banks. The process is rigorous: candidates endure an AI-driven interview, financial statement modelling tests, and then weekly deliverables in Excel for review. For OpenAI, the aim is clear: replace the labour intensive “grunt” modelling tasks, free up human analysts, and deliver efficiency gains that can scale.