As highlighted in the 2025 CFA GenAI-focused webinar series I participated in, generative AI and intelligent agents are undoubtedly here to stay. However, achieving meaningful results in complex, creative, and high-level cognitive tasks-such as investment decision-making-requires far more than simple plug-and-play implementation.
Bloomberg interview to Ken Griffin (Citadel Founder) points out the same facts:
-
Ken Griffin's view on generative AI: It's not helping hedge funds achieve market-beating returns or significantly impacting the investment industry so far.
-
Quote: "With GenAI there are clearly ways it enhances productivity, but for uncovering alpha it just falls short."
-
Research importance: Griffin said generative AI hasn't replaced the deep, meaningful research conducted at Citadel.
-
Skepticism toward AI: He has previously called AI a limited tool for investment analysis and downplayed its potential to replace human jobs in the near term.
-
Citadel background: Founded by Griffin in 1990, Citadel has grown into a $69 billion hedge fund spanning multiple asset classes.
-
Limited industry impact: Griffin believes generative AI will have some effects but not profound ones, and its impact will vary across sectors.
-
Broader corporate influence: AI is pushing companies to invest more in technology and elevate the role of chief technology officers, spurring long-overdue innovations.
This mirrors the situation from the mid-2010s, when data science first entered the investment industry and many believed that simply hiring a data scientist and running a few Random Forest algorithms would be enough to outperform the market.
Let me know your thoughts
------------------------------
Carlos Salas
Portfolio Manager & Freelance Investment Research Consultant
------------------------------