IR Teams’ AI Use Jumps From 6% to 42% in a Year – But a Measurement Gap Is Widening, Irwin Survey Finds
Investor relations software provider Irwin (a FactSet company) has published its State of Investor Relations 2026 report, based on responses from 223 IR professionals, consultants and executives globally. The headline number is stark: AI adoption within IR teams rose from 6% a year ago to 42% today, though Irwin’s researchers are careful to frame this as augmentation of judgment rather than replacement of it – teams are using AI chiefly to speed up drafting and research, not to automate investor engagement itself.
Two other findings complicate the picture of progress. Despite the rush of new tools, 40% of teams say their administrative burden actually increased over the past year, and only 27% describe themselves as satisfied with how data flows between the systems they’ve adopted – a fragmentation problem that more tools alone hasn’t solved. On strategy, the survey found a retreat from ESG-forward messaging, with 52% of respondents saying ESG is now “not important” to their investor base, alongside a swing back toward face time: 52% of teams report increasing in-person investor meetings. Perhaps most notable for anyone trying to prove the value of investor communications: a full third of IR teams operate without any formal KPIs at all, and of those that do track metrics, only a quarter feel they’re measuring effectively.
What this means for fund marketers: the respondent base here skews toward public companies, but the pattern maps directly onto fund and IR communications teams at hedge funds and asset managers. First, AI is now a baseline capability rather than an experiment – investor communications functions that haven’t built even lightweight AI-assisted workflows for drafting and research are falling behind a fast-moving majority. Second, the ESG retreat is a caution against messaging that has drifted out of step with what allocators actually ask about; teams still leading with ESG credentials by default should check that against current investor priorities rather than habit. Third, and most urgent: the KPI gap. Fund marketing and IR teams that can’t point to a formal measurement framework for investor engagement will struggle to defend headcount and budget in the next allocation cycle – this is the year to put one in place, before a CFO or GP asks for one first.
