OpenAI has launched a groundbreaking initiative called Project Mercury, enlisting over 100 former investment bankers to train its AI models on financial tasks usually performed by junior bankers. The project’s ultimate goal is to automate financial modelling and data-heavy processes in the investment banking world, including IPO preparations, restructurings, and mergers.
These professionals, who have previously worked with global giants like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley, are paid $150 per hour to build financial models and create prompts that help OpenAI’s systems understand the intricacies of banking workflows.
What Is Project Mercury All About?
Project Mercury underscores OpenAI’s ambition to make its AI useful across multiple professional domains, such as finance, consulting, legal, and technology. Despite its massive $500 billion valuation, OpenAI continues to explore sustainable business models, and financial automation appears to be a promising direction.
An OpenAI spokesperson explained that domain experts are being hired through third-party suppliers to train and evaluate AI capabilities across different industries. For the finance sector, this could mean AI replacing repetitive and time-consuming analyst tasks — a major shift for an industry long dependent on human expertise and long working hours.
Why Junior Bankers Are Watching Closely
Investment banking analysts typically clock over 80 hours a week, juggling Excel models and PowerPoint presentations — often referred to internally as the “pls fix” culture. With AI tools advancing rapidly, these tasks could soon be handled by machines, raising concerns about job security for junior bankers while promising higher efficiency for firms.
The Hiring Process: AI Interviewing Humans
Applying to Project Mercury is as futuristic as the project itself. Candidates first go through a 20-minute interview with an AI chatbot, followed by rigorous tests on financial modelling and statement analysis. Contractors are expected to deliver one high-quality model per week, adhering to industry formatting and presentation standards.
Participants hail from top firms like Brookfield, Evercore, Mubadala Investment, and KKR, as well as MBA programs at Harvard and MIT — signaling how AI is fast becoming a partner in Wall Street’s next chapter.
