What CEOs Are Saying: AI Comes to Wall Street
Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and Charles Schwab reported Q1 earnings this week. On every call, an analyst asked what AI actually means for the business. To quote one of them, "AI is our friend."
Anthropic released Claude Mythos Preview on April 7, a frontier AI model so capable at finding software vulnerabilities that the company is distributing it only under a controlled cybersecurity program called Project Glasswing.
The launch has put the financial industry on edge. In the three earnings calls we cover this week, analysts asked each big Wall Street CEO some version of the same question: Is AI a threat to your business model, a benefit, or both?
Let’s hear what they had to say.
Morgan Stanley (MS)
Q1 FY2026 Earnings Call
Results: strong, with record revenue of $20.6 billion (up 16%), record EPS of $3.43, and return on tangible common equity of 27.1%
Morgan Stanley has $9 trillion in client assets across its wealth and investment management businesses, advises corporations on mergers and capital raising, and trades stocks and bonds for institutional clients worldwide. In 2020, it acquired E*TRADE, giving it a direct retail channel alongside its financial adviser network.
Takeaways from the call:
Morgan Stanley has beta access to Anthropic’s most advanced AI model
Chairman and CEO Ted Pick confirmed on the call that Morgan Stanley has been given access to Claude Mythos Preview.
