The Day AI Replaces the 'Back Office' of Investment Banking—The Future Shown by OpenAI's 'Project Mercury'
On October 21, 2025, the existence of a new project by OpenAI, Project Mercury, was revealed. The company, known as the developer of ChatGPT, is applying generative AI to financial operations and envisioning a future where AI replaces the 'work' of junior bankers. On the program, Bloomberg Wall Street reporter Sridhar Natarajan revealed the reality of this confidential project.
1. What is 'Project Mercury'?
1-1. An AI training plan that hires former investment bankers
OpenAI is reportedly hiring former investment bankers on a contract basis for 'Project Mercury' to teach AI models financial modeling and document preparation techniques. The goal is the automation of routine tasks previously handled by associates and analysts. The aim is to have AI perform tasks often called the 'hotbed of 100-hour work weeks,' such as entering numbers into Excel and formatting PowerPoint presentations, allowing humans to focus on more strategic work.
1-2. Toward the end of the 'Please Fix' culture
During the program, it was jokingly mentioned that 'AI might reduce the exchange of 'Please fix' memos.' There is a possibility that AI could correct the inefficient culture where junior bankers are repeatedly asked for minor revisions by their superiors.
Natarajan stated, 'If AI can automate the detailed feedback from management, it will prevent junior staff burnout and fundamentally change productivity.'
2. A new trend in AI and finance
2-1. Replacing 'work' rather than 'analysis'
What this project symbolizes is that AI will take over 'work' before it takes over 'analysis.' The future where AI instantly processes the simple, repetitive tasks that junior bankers spend 100 hours a week on is becoming a reality.
Recalculating financial models, comparative company analysis, and generating multiple scenarios are areas of structured data processing where LLMs (Large Language Models) excel.
2-2. The future where 'AI bankers' are born
There is also a possibility that AI will become more than just a tool, evolving into something like an **'AI Associate.'** Human bankers will verify the models presented by AI and focus on building relationships with clients and negotiations—this is the 'investment banking image in the AI era' that OpenAI envisions.
3. The context of the global economy
In the same day's broadcast, discussions were also held regarding the rare earth agreement between the U.S. and Australia, as well as the relationship between power supply and AI growth.
Rob Sammel of Tortoise Capital stated, 'AI is turning electricity into the new 'oil',' emphasizing that the widespread adoption of AI requires vast amounts of electricity and the development of material supply chains.
Amidst these macro trends, 'Project Mercury' can be seen as a symbol of AI permeating the core of white-collar work.
4. The 'AI Investment Banking' era begins
Financial analysis using AI is already being tested at firms like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs. If this movement accelerates under OpenAI's leadership, the battle for supremacy in the 'AI + financial modeling' field will intensify.
According to Bloomberg's analysis, it is highly likely that AI will not completely take away 'junior jobs,' but rather redefine the labor structure and shift it toward tasks requiring higher-order judgment.
Conclusion
OpenAI's 'Project Mercury' is not just an AI application experiment. It is an attempt to fundamentally change the labor structure of Wall Street and is at the forefront of AI redefining the 'division of intellectual labor.'
Ten years from now, the sight of humans and AI teaming up on the investment banking floor to build financial models 24/7 will no longer be science fiction.
The curtain on the 'AI Banker Era' that OpenAI is opening has already quietly risen.