As the use of AI within asset owners evolves, organisations are grappling with the governance question of where the strategy and accountability sit. Darcy Song looks at the treatment of AI organisationally within a number of high-profile funds, including OTPP, AustralianSuper, CPP and Norges Bank.
Next-generation nuclear energy, and the money pouring into it, will truly change the world, according to CIO of Utah Retirement System John Skjervem. It’s a lonely position as the CIO of a public pension fund but one Utah is embracing as it builds out early-stage investments in nuclear energy as part of its alternative energy portfolio. He speaks to Sarah Rundell in an exclusive interview about how investing in transformational energy technologies can be part of prudent investment management.
The pace of change in AI models poses a significant challenge to the due diligence frameworks employed by asset owners, whose own ability to adapt is being outstripped by the technological advancements they’re being asked to assess.
As artificial intelligence models become more sophisticated, asset owners and managers are rethinking portfolio construction as an activity sitting at the nexus of human and machine, which means gaining an edge over the market increasingly needs investors to tap into the wisdom from both sources.
Tokenisation of traditional assets will lead to a boom in on-chain trading, and that in turn opens the door to AI-agentic trading. But there are risks that AI agents may behave in unpredictable ways and, despite the hype surrounding the technology, still produce unexpected investment losses. In these cases, it will typically still be the CIO who bears responsibility – so they’d better understand what their AI agents are up to.
UTIMCO measures its AI exposure via analysis of how investee companies have integrated the technology. It reveals a 5 per cent overweight to AI thanks mostly to hedge fund strategies and infrastructure. Meanwhile, the investor pointed to history to flag a likely reversal to the mean in global equity markets.
Top1000funds.com is the market leading news and analysis site for the world’s largest institutional investors. It focuses on leading the global investment industry to continuous improvement through case studies of best practice in governance and decision making, portfolio construction and efficient portfolio management, fees and costs, and sustainable investing.
The publication pushes the industry to question whether status quo processes and behaviours to tackle risks and opportunities will be sufficient in the future, and actively campaigns for diversity, sustainability, transparency, innovation and better alignment of fees in the investment industry.
Top1000funds.com is read by investment professionals in more than 40 countries.
Organisational Design