A new report published by Mercer revealed that 91 percent of investment managers in its Global Investment Manager Database currently use (54 percent) or plan to use (37 percent) AI within their investment strategy or asset class research.

Mercer found that managers’ use of AI in investment research and alpha generation is largely focused on expanding existing capabilities by expanding data sets and analytics and idea generation.

Conversely, only a minority of managers are implementing AI in more complex aspects of portfolio management.

Mercer also examined managers' expectations about the potential impacts of AI on value creation at the asset class level, revealing that they "vary significantly."

Namely, among those already using AI, the firm said there was a clear consensus on the opportunities inherent in the stock, with 61 percent of managers seeing very significant or significant prospects for value creation.

This is followed by hedge funds at 53 percent and digital assets at 45 percent.

What's more, nearly half of managers (47 percent) see significant or very significant future value creation opportunity in fixed income.

"In the fixed income arena, AI can be used to support bottom-up credit analysis of corporate bond issuers, similar to how it would be used to support and augment equity analysis," said Noel Collins, senior director of fixed income investment research at Mercer.

From a top-down perspective, he said, AI can be used to improve macro and geopolitical analysis and therefore help with portfolio positioning and risk assessments.

"While AI capabilities are not yet the norm for fixed income managers, we are incorporating this focus increasingly into our own research," Collins said.

However, at a sector level, the research revealed that managers see significant or very significant value creation opportunities through the integration of AI across a number of sectors/business lines.

Among those already using AI, the technology sector naturally emerged as the most important opportunity, seen as significant or very significant by 83 percent of managers. Healthcare (72 percent); financial services and wealth management (70 percent); legal services (66 percent); banking (64 percent); and insurance (61 percent) were the next most cited significant or very significant areas of opportunity for value creation.

Examining AI's future impact on markets and strategy development, Mercer revealed that at a macro level, managers are "optimistic" about AI's potential to contribute to global economic growth in the coming years.

Namely, on average, managers using AI expect a $14 trillion boost to the global economy by 2030. and a 9% increase in global GDP over the same period.

What's more, some 56 percent of executives expect AI to contribute to disinflationary forces in the economy through impacts on productivity, automation, and competition driven by more widespread integration.

Maja Garatsa Djurdjevic

Maya's career in journalism spans more than a decade in finance, business and politics. Now an experienced editor and reporter in all elements of the financial services sector, before joining Momentum Media, Maya reported for several established news outlets in South East Europe, looking at key processes in post-conflict societies.