JPMorgan Monitors AI Usage by Its Engineers

JPMorgan Intensifies AI Monitoring Among Its Engineers

Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan, is a strong supporter of the bank's artificial intelligence initiative. As part of this effort, JPMorgan has implemented internal dashboards to track and evaluate the use of AI by its engineers. These monitoring tools have become a central element of performance discussions, with some developers claiming that managers rely on this data during meetings. This growing pressure is accompanied by an acknowledgment of the productivity gains these tools can bring.

The bank has recently required its developers, who are part of a global technology division comprising approximately 65,000 people, to demonstrate a "significant improvement" in both the quality and quantity of code through AI. To measure this progress, JPMorgan has developed internal tools, including dashboards that rank engineers based on their use of tools such as GitHub Copilot and Claude from Anthropic. A specific formula is used to categorize users.

Business Insider was able to review screenshots of these systems and interviewed seven developers, both current and former. They described an increasing pressure to produce more and faster, as managers become more aware of how frequently employees are using AI. While some find these tools helpful, many fear being labeled as underperformers if their AI usage does not increase.

A spokesperson for JPMorgan clarified that the bank does not integrate this data into "performance management," but uses it to measure the effectiveness of its AI investments. "Data collection and feedback allow us to provide appropriate training and support to the right people," he added, emphasizing that the potential of these tools is fully realized only when people, processes, and technology converge.

A Widespread Trend in Companies

JPMorgan is not the only company ramping up its expectations regarding employee adoption of AI. Many companies, including giants like Meta and Google, are under pressure to prove that their AI investments are yielding returns. These companies have set goals for AI-assisted coding and allow managers to mandate the use of agents.

Sameer Gupta, head of AI in financial services in the Americas at EY, stated that he had not heard of tracking AI usage at the individual level in banks. However, he noted that some companies track AI usage within teams, which can help determine which tools work and how to overcome obstacles. "In general, people don’t like being monitored," he noted. "If someone is tracking how many hours you spend on Teams and video conferencing, that can be uncomfortable."

JPMorgan's Effort in Detail

Publicly, JPMorgan executives, including Jamie Dimon, have touted the company's adoption of artificial intelligence, supported by a technology budget of nearly $20 billion. During the bank's latest earnings call, Dimon predicted that AI would soon become a standard.

Engineers interviewed by Business Insider expressed a desire for more clarity on important metrics. Business Insider was able to see two dashboards tracking the use of GitHub Copilot, a key hub combining access to multiple AI tools. One dashboard displayed data on employee adoption and AI usage rates, listing nearly 70,000 people as "provisioned users" of Copilot; about 24,000 were listed as "active" users recently at the end of March, according to a screenshot. Tens of thousands of employee records were available, indicating the last day they had been active using AI tools, their office location, and their reporting lines. The other dashboard categorized them as "non," "light," or "heavy" users.

According to a screenshot from an internal Microsoft Teams channel viewed by Business Insider, a developer from the Global Technology group sent a message to dozens of colleagues advising them to check if they had been added to what the sender called the "bad users" list of AI users. The warning included a link to what appeared to be a large database of individual employees' AI usage rates, with another link for those who believed they were misclassified as under-users to request their removal from the list. The developer also encouraged others to download Copilot if they hadn't already and to open it once a month to avoid being flagged by the system.

One engineer stated that he frequently checks one of the dashboards, worried that the system does not capture the full extent of the activities he performs with AI. Another, who recently left the company, said that a direct manager had told him in a meeting several months ago that he "appeared as a non-user of artificial intelligence" and needed to "start using it."

JPMorgan's Rating Formula

An intranet document outlines the bank's daily rating system that tracks how engineers use GitHub Copilot tools. These interactions are weighted, with higher scores for proactive use, such as starting a prompt, and lower scores for passive actions, like accepting code written by a LLM. Activity is aggregated into a quarterly score that evaluates engineers as above or below the median usage rate in their field, "allowing us to compare performance" from one quarter to the next.

"The overall climate gives the impression that we need to be at 110% every day, all week," said a mid-level developer. "It's so interesting. I thought this AI tool was supposed to make our lives easier, but it really seems to have raised our production expectations." Other engineers can relate — developers from various office sectors told Business Insider that AI has significantly increased their workload, while others have had to face a loss of personal identity as LLMs have taken over tasks they spent years learning to perform.

As some engineers have slowly begun accessing Claude Code, Anthropic's coding agent, another dashboard has emerged. Screenshots show it tracking over 600 people in early April, including adoption rates and spending per user and in total. Other documents indicated that developers were working on several additional tools that could enhance the bank's tracking capabilities if adopted.

The Shadow of Past Monitoring

JPMorgan's history of tracking employee engagement, from office attendance to time spent on Zoom, heightens anxiety for some, especially in offices affected by planned layoffs this year, three developers stated. The new AI usage goals have made some individuals "a bit anxious," said a programmer with nearly five years of experience at the bank. "In some areas, I think it's probably more frightening just because they realize they have way too many people for the level of work they need to accomplish." The advice from his manager? Familiarize yourself with the tools and use them often, "because no matter where you end up, whether within the company or being laid off in the coming years, this is what work is going to look like, no matter what."