The University of Edinburgh and abrdn have announced a project at the Investment Innovation Centre to use generative artificial intelligence (AI) to support the investment research process.
We aim to bring together the expertise of the investment industry and multidisciplinary researchers to create a generative AI-powered research companion that combines enhanced large-scale language models and statistical inference to support abrdn's investment team, with a focus on expanding both the breadth of securities they can consider and the depth of quantitative analysis they can leverage.
While some of the other AI techniques that asset managers are deploying in their investment decisions focus on identifying specific risks or analyzing past decisions, this tool will support abrdn's research team by applying the process in a scalable way to a broader range of securities.
By adding a “statistical brain,” the tool should be able to do more than provide an enhanced version of a customized large-scale language model.
Researchers from the University of Edinburgh's School of Information Sciences and Mathematics are investigating how existing large-scale language models can be adapted and enhanced to synthesize the vast amounts of data required for investment decisions, combining publicly available information with abrdn's own proprietary data.
The new tool also aims to provide explainability for how decisions are made.
This is envisaged as an add-on to the existing team functionality, where the reports and insights generated will have an overlay of human intelligence. The project should also create opportunities for students and young researchers in the industry, as well as knowledge sharing on forecasting and prophecy in academia.
Echo Yang, investment director at abrdn and co-leader of the project, said: “AI has the potential to make significant contributions to existing investment processes, but like any new technology, it needs to be leveraged correctly to deliver real benefits.
“Working with the world-class team at the University of Edinburgh allows us to bring the best academic insight and combine it with abrdn's real-world market and investment experience.
“We are constantly seeking to analyze the markets we invest in more deeply, and the range of data points we need to analyze is ever-widening. Exploring how we can use generative AI to support our investment teams has the potential to deliver even greater value to our clients.”
The project is supported by Edinburgh Innovations, the University of Edinburgh’s commercialisation service, and forms part of a wider relationship already established between abrdn and the University of Edinburgh.
In April 2022, the two sides announced the launch of the Investment Innovation Centre, a £7.5m strategic partnership to address challenges facing the investment and asset management sector across three key areas: sustainability, thematic investing and innovative investing.
The centre is located within the Edinburgh Future Institute, a new space for learning, research and innovation.
Sotirios Savanis, director of the Centre for Investment Innovation, and co-director John Vines said: “Developing high-impact financial decision-making models requires collaboration and multidisciplinary expertise, in our case integrating insights from mathematical modelling, natural language processing and human behavioural psychology.”
“This type of research produced in collaboration with industry not only benefits our investors and customers, it also provides secondments for students, strengthens our teaching programs, creates knowledge-sharing opportunities for our researchers and ensures that our research helps solve societal challenges.”
The joint project aims to deliver an alpha test model for business trial in 2025, with a full prototype by the following year. Throughout this journey, and once ready, the model that may be integrated into the actual research process will be subject to the oversight of abrdn's AI governance framework, which was established to ensure the strategic use of AI while understanding and managing the risks.
The University of Edinburgh recently established two AI hubs for Causal AI and Electronics, and last year launched the Generative AI Institute.
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