• Gen AI is now widely used in work supporting investment decisions. 77% use it at least occasionally for investment-memo preparation, 73% for company or asset analysis and 71% for idea generation. Use falls to 31% in portfolio construction, where only 7% consider it core.
• Trust still sets the boundary for integration. 60% say explainability is important or essential for AI-assisted investment decisions, reinforcing the continued importance of human verification and accountability.
• Gen AI adoption could change the balance of roles within the front office. Asked which two industry roles are most at risk from Gen AI adoption, 41% select analysts, while no respondent selects portfolio managers.
   

The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) has published Tools, Trust, and Talent: How fund managers are putting Gen AI to work, a new global study showing Gen AI moving further into the research and analytical work at the heart of the investment process, while human judgement remains central to portfolio decisions.

Based on responses from more than a hundred global fund managers – representing approximately US$998 billion in assets under management (AUM) – and qualitative interviews with industry practitioners, the report finds that 97% are implementing Gen AI in some capacity, while 89% report that explored use cases have delivered the expected value in at least one business area.

Adoption is nevertheless highly differentiated. Gen AI is widely used to research, analyse and prepare investment cases, but remains much less established in portfolio construction itself.

The findings continue a direction identified across AIMA’s three studies. In 2023, only 3% of respondents reported using Gen AI in portfolio optimisation. By 2025, 58% expected greater front-office integration. This year’s results show that expectations are beginning to translate into practice—principally through the work supporting investment decisions rather than replacing final human judgement.

Key findings include:

• Nine in ten respondents report value in at least one business area. Investment research leads at 74%, followed by operations at 50%, technology at 48% and compliance at 46%.
• Trust remains the leading constraint. Accuracy and reliability, at 58%, and data leakage, at 51%, constrain wider adoption far more than cost, at 8%, or culture, at 7%.
• Claude is now the most widely permitted public LLM, at 67%, ahead of ChatGPT at 61% and Copilot at 59%. It is also the leading named model in six of seven task categories.
• Data protection and governance dominate regulatory and compliance concerns. Asked to select their top two concerns, 55% select data protection and security, followed by governance oversight and accountability at 49%. The results suggest firms are focused on present-day controls and accountability as well as uncertainty about future AI regulation.
• The effects may extend beyond firms themselves. 38% have already reduced or expect to reduce their reliance on external service providers, although most of the anticipated change has yet to occur.

The report is AIMA’s third dedicated study of Gen AI adoption since 2023. It builds on the 2025 report, Charting the Course: Lessons from AI Leaders, by examining how the leadership, governance and organisational practices identified in that research are now being applied in practice.

Tom Kehoe, Managing Director, Global Head of Research and Communications at AIMA, said:

“Across AIMA’s three studies, Gen AI has moved steadily closer to the heart of the investment process. It is now widely used in the research and analysis that help build an investment case, offering managers new opportunities to improve productivity and strengthen their investment capabilities. Yet adoption remains limited in portfolio construction where judgement, explainability and accountability carry greater weight. Human oversight continues to shape the pace of adoption.

“The workforce implications are equally important. While respondents see analysts as more exposed to AI disruption than portfolio managers, the findings suggest Gen AI will reshape tasks and skills before materially affecting employment. For managers, the opportunity is to harness these efficiencies while developing talent and preserving the human judgement central to investment decisions”
 

Contact Details:

Drew Nicol, Director, Research and Communications, AIMA

Email: [email protected]