Exclusive: Goldman Sachs intern acceptance rate falls below 1% for third straight year

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon says artificial intelligence will “probably” reduce the number of people his firm hires in the coming years. His 2026 intern class tells a more complicated story. The bank accepted fewer than one in 100 applicants for its summer internship program this year, maintaining a sub-1% selection rate for the third consecutive year, according to data shared exclusively with Fortune. The class of 2,500 interns — drawn from more than 500 universities, representing over 90 nationalities and speaking 70-plus languages — arrives at Goldman at a moment when its chief executive is publicly wrestling with one of Wall Street’s most consequential questions: what does the rise of AI mean for young workers? “You’re going to see nuanced changes that probably to some degree reduce the number of people that we start with over the next few years,” Solomon said in a recent appearance on Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast. “But probably not what you and I would call dramatically.” He added: “We’re still going to hire a lot of people out of school.” The intern class data reflects that commitment. In July, Goldman will bring on approximately the same number of permanent new hires as interns — another 2,500 or so entry-level employees across client-facing, operational, and technology roles. That figure is lower than the 3,000-plus the firm was running in 2021 during the pandemic hiring surge, but consistent with Goldman’s pre-COVID baseline, Solomon noted. A representative for Goldman told Fortune that Solomon’s comments on Odd Lots weren’t referring to this year in particular but the potential impact of hiring in the next couple years, although the intern class for 2026 is smaller by about 100 from last year’s acceptance of 2,600. The profile of who’s getting in has evolved alongside the numbers. Goldman disclosed to Fortune that this year’s class includes more than 3