Bringing together expertise from the investment industry and researchers, the project aims to create a generative AI-powered research companion that will combine an enhanced large language model with statistical inferences* to support abrdn’s investment teams, the firm said in a statement. It will expand the breadth of securities that abrdn’s investment teams can review, as well as the depth of quantitative analysis that they are able to draw from, tailored to the abrdn investment style.

The tool will support abrdn's research teams by applying their process in a scalable way across a broader range of securities to deliver more timely and richer insights, the firm added.

It is envisaged as an add-on to existing team capabilities, with the reports and insights generated requiring human intelligence being overlaid. The tool's integration is expected to bring greater capacity to abrdn’s investments' business; it will enable quicker and more informed investment decisions and will help to broaden abrdn investment teams’ coverage within and across sectors. The project will also create opportunities for students and early career researchers within industry, as well as knowledge-sharing on forecasting and prediction for academics, the firm continued.

“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. By working with the University of Edinburgh’s world-class team we can bring the best academic insight, and match that with abrdn’s real-world experience of markets and investing,” Echo Yang, investment director at abrdn and the project co-lead, said.

The project forms part of a wider relationship already in place between abrdn and the University of Edinburgh, supported by Edinburgh Innovations, the University’s commercialisation service. In April 2022, the two parties announced the creation of the Centre for Investing Innovation, a £7.5 million ($9.5 million) partnership to address challenges facing the investment and asset management sector across three main areas: sustainability, thematic investing and innovating investing. The centre sits within the Edinburgh Futures Institute, a new futures-focused space for learning, research, and innovation at the University of Edinburgh.

*Inferences in statistics are techniques employed to examine the results of data to arrive at conclusions, interpretations, and predictions.