Abrdn has partnered with the University of Edinburgh as it hopes to harness generative artificial intelligence for investment research.
The firm has teamed up with the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Investing Innovation to create a AI-powered "research companion".
The project will focus on expanding the range of securities Abrdn's investment teams can review.
Echo Yang, investment director at Abrdn and the project co-lead said: "AI has the power to make a substantial contribution to our existing investment processes but like any new technology it has to be harnessed correctly to deliver real benefits.
“There is an ever-increasing range of data points to analyse as we constantly seek to deepen our analysis of the markets we invest in.
"Through exploration of using generative AI to support our investment teams, we have the potential to deliver even more value for our clients.”
Researchers from the Schools of Informatics and Maths at the University of Edinburgh are exploring how existing large language models could be adapted to combine public information and Abrdn’s proprietary data to look at the whole investment decision making process.
The new tool would also explain how decisions are reached.
Professor Sotirios Sabanis, who is director for the Centre for Investing Innovation alongside Professor John Vines, said: "As well as benefiting investors and customers, research co-created with industry like this also offers secondment opportunities for students, enhances our education programmes, creates knowledge-sharing opportunities for researchers and ensures our research is helping to meet society’s challenges."
The project aims to develop a test model for trial in 2025 and a full prototype the following year.
Abrdn and the University of Edinburgh launched the Centre for Investing Innovation in April 2022.
The £7.5mn partnership works to address challenges facing the investment and asset management sector across three main areas: sustainability, thematic investing and innovating investing.
tara.o'connor@ft.com
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