Robocap commissioned research company Pureprofile to interview 100 senior professional investors at pension funds, insurance asset managers, family offices and wealth managers who collectively manage $513 billion in assets. The survey was conducted in May using an online methodology. Firms interviewed were based in the UK, US, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany and Switzerland.

The study found that almost all believe that the expected 10 times increase in computational power being applied by the big five US model developers to current AI models will deliver a breakthrough in what AI can achieve. That will translate into increased global growth this year. On average, the respondents believe that productivity gains from AI this year will account for 22 per cent of global growth.

The survey adds to a range of analyses about how AI, a broad term, could upend traditional business models, change productivity, benefit and affect certain occupations, and change relations between clients and those who serve them. The wealth management industry is no exception, as Family Wealth Report has covered in articles such as here, here and here.

The growth path
In three years’ time, the percentage of productivity gains and global growth attributable to AI will increase to an average 30 per cent, the study predicted, while around one in five questioned believe that the increase could be 40 per cent or more.

The impact of increased AI capabilities will be felt first by marketing and sales, with 31 per cent of respondents predicting that the sector will be the first in line for disruption followed by services such as law, finance, accounting and tax which was ranked first by 29 per cent.

The research found that around one in five firms highlighted IT as first in line, 9 per cent pointed to transportation, 7 per cent to healthcare, and 6 per cent to industrials and consumer goods.

Real estate and utilities were seen as the last sectors most likely to be disrupted last by AI and robotics. Around 28 per cent said real estate would be among the last to be disrupted, followed by 20 per cent choosing utilities and 11 per cent selecting materials.

“The advance in AI capabilities over the past few years has been phenomenal as major model firms have increased the computational power used to train their models year-on-year,” Jonathan Cohen, founder and CIO at Robocap, said.

“This year it is estimated that the computational power being applied by the big five American model developers to train their next model will actually be up to 30 times more relative to the compute power current model and investors are convinced that the world is on the verge of a breakthrough in terms of AI capabilities considering weekly progresses,” he continued. “That is translating into real world effects with the productivity gains from AI making major contributions to global growth which are expected to increase over the coming years.”

The Robocap UCITS Fund, which is a thematic equity fund focusing on pure-play robotics, automation and AI-listed stocks globally, was launched in January 2016. The fund, managed by a London-based team, has delivered compound annualized net returns of 15.38 per cent and a net return of 359.95 per cent since its inception.