Many people may learn about AI by playing around with ChatGPT. The superrich may learn by flying their entire family to an educational course at an Ivy League university.
In hourlong conversations, some of JPMorgan’s wealthiest clients revealed how they’re using AI in their personal and professional lives. Of the 111 billionaire principals, 79% said they use the technology in their personal lives, and 69% said they use it in their businesses.
Some of their use cases are to be expected: writing and research, travel planning, administrative tasks, and data analysis. Yet the ultra-rich clients, whose combined net worth tops $500 billion, also reported more niche ways they’ve used AI in the bank’s 2025 Principal Discussions Report.
When it comes to business, one respondent said that AI had helped them avoid $100,000 in legal research. (A flurry of legal tech startups has emerged to try to strip law firms of time-consuming routine work.)
Another said they first treated AI like “a toy” and would use it to make customized bedtime stories for their son. The tales would, they said, always end with an “emotional twist.” One respondent said they used AI to design a blueprint for a plane they want to build. A few of the respondents said they had flown out to Ivy League schools to take classes on AI use; some even made the courses a family affair.
For all their uses, though, some of the billionaires expressed concerns about AI’s impact on society and the environment. The boom in AI data centers is threatening sustainable energy targets, and the air-pollution-related public health costs could reach $9.2 billion annually, Business Insider previously reported.
When asked about the top five risks in today’s global environment, 7% said AI/machine learning, making the category a distant second to geopolitical tensions. Some said they worry about job displacement related to the technology.
Not all of the respondents have started to use AI, and some said they conduct their business communications over the phone, avoid computers, and “rely on manual calculation or intuition.” That being said, one of the principals who said they don’t use the technology acknowledged its potential and said their children use it often.
