April 2025 TNI CIO Forum – AI Session Summary

The April 2025 TNI CIO Forum AI session summary explores how large institutional investors should think about AI over the next five years. It argues that AI—especially large language models—will become vastly more efficient, personalised, and ubiquitous, transforming most knowledge work and driving adoption from a small minority of users today to the majority of the global population.

From an investment perspective, the largest and most immediate opportunities are in AI infrastructure (data centers, power, compute) and semiconductors, with applied AI and vertical-specific applications expected to generate the greatest long-term value. In both public and private markets, we at TNI are currently focused on “picks and shovels” investments, while direct investment in foundational models are viewed as more speculative given the recent valuation gains. We have yet to find an example of a bubble that has not burst. We don’t think AI is an exception.

Finally, the paper outlines how CIOs should assess asset managers’ AI sophistication, focusing on their understanding of AI drivers, use of differentiated data, practical integration of AI into investment processes, and ability to distinguish where human judgment still matters.