Elevating company analysis and thematic investing: Specialized insights with generative AI

Using AI for Investment Analysis

In Evli Atlas, our portfolio customization service, we use Generative AI to automate the analysis of company information. This differs in many ways from using AI in more general ways—such as personal assistant tools like ChatGPT. While tools like ChatGPT are great at answering questions and holding conversations, they are not optimized for specialized, detailed analysis that requires precision and accuracy.

ChatGPT can hold a conversation, write creatively, or answer questions. However, it doesn't have deep, specialized knowledge about niche topics and sometimes fabricates information (i.e., "hallucinates"). This happens because Generative AI doesn't "know" everything—it generates answers based on patterns in data rather than specific, verified knowledge. In investing, accuracy is critical, and that's why we don't rely on generic Generative AI to just "guess."

Instead, in our own AI-powered analysis toolset, Atlas Intelligence, we guide the Generative AI with specific data inputs and structured workflows, ensuring the information it provides is reliable and relevant to investment themes.

This guided approach allows Generative AI to work like an expert analyst, following predefined steps and using accurate data. Unlike a human analyst, it doesn't get tired, which means it can consistently deliver quality analysis at scale. By defining clear workflows and providing the AI with the right data, we ensure that the insights generated are both comprehensive and precise, matching as closely as possible what a human analyst would do.

Understanding Structured vs. Unstructured Data

In the world of investing, understanding company data is crucial. Not all data is easy to work with, and we often talk about two types: structured data and unstructured data. Structured data is organized in a clear format—like spreadsheets or databases—making it easy to analyze and compare. Unstructured data, on the other hand, includes long text documents, reports, social media posts, news articles, emails, and information on a company's products. This type of data can hold valuable insights, such as information on a company's sustainability initiatives or product quality, but it is challenging to use without proper processing. Investors have often struggled with making sense of unstructured information due to its volume and complexity.

Harnessing Generative AI for Unstructured Data Analysis

Generative AI tools, like those used in Atlas Intelligence, can change this landscape dramatically. These advanced technologies are capable of reading and understanding unstructured data, transforming it into structured information that we can analyze. Imagine sifting through thousands of pages of company reports, annual statements, and other documents—Generative AI can do this efficiently, identifying key information and converting it into useful, structured data that investors can use to make decisions. By doing so, it turns what would otherwise be an overwhelming pile of information into clear, structured data that can easily be further processed.

Generative AI applies specialized thematic analysis frameworks to unstructured data, enabling a focused assessment of key areas such as environmental policies, social commitments, governance practices, as well as a company's products and operational practices. By following these frameworks, Generative AI extracts critical data points that align with particular investment themes, ensuring comprehensive and reliable insights that support informed decision-making.

Creating New Data for Better Portfolios

Traditionally, our team were data consumers—we took existing data from providers and used it to build investment portfolios. We relied on third-party data, which often limited us to the metrics and insights that were widely available. With Atlas Intelligence, we're taking a new step. We're not only consuming data but also creating it. By using Generative AI to process company information in a consistent and detailed way, we can generate new, specialized data that didn't exist before.

This shift allows us to create new metrics for important topics—like cybersecurity, robotics, energy transition, veganism, or children's rights—that help us construct unique investment portfolios. We don't have to rely solely on the metrics everyone else is using; instead, we generate our own insights tailored to what our investors care about. This ability to generate customized metrics is particularly valuable for thematic investing, where investors may have specific goals and interests. By creating our own data, we ensure that our analysis aligns with these interests, allowing us to construct portfolios that reflect our clients' values.

For example, if an investor is particularly interested in supporting companies that advance children's rights, we can use a specialized expert framework, such as UNICEF's tool for investors, to analyze companies' policies on children's welfare. Similarly, for investors interested in emerging technologies like robotics and AI, we can create new metrics that assess and quantify a company's involvement and advancements in these areas, providing insights that go beyond traditional financial metrics.

Personalized Investing: implemented end-to-end

Atlas Intelligence makes specialized investing easier. No matter which theme an investor wants to focus on, we can create portfolios that are truly personalized. By moving from just using data to also producing it, we're making investing more flexible, and aligned with what matters most to our clients. This personalized approach means that each investor's portfolio can be uniquely tailored to reflect their personal values, financial goals, and market views.

We allow investors to take targeted positions based on their beliefs about which themes will outperform. This approach means our clients can invest with both conviction and precision, aligning their portfolios with their values as well as their market outlooks. Thematic investing allows investors to tap into growth opportunities across various sectors, enabling them to be part of the themes they believe are shaping the future.

This pairs particularly well with our Atlas Portfolio Customization platform, which allows us to go end-to-end—from generating new data and insights to constructing portfolios and actually running them as a service for our clients. With Atlas, investing is about achieving financial returns while ensuring true alignment with personal beliefs and market perspectives.