Generative or agentic AI is not a headline for fund marketing’s proverbial tabloids anymore when it now dominates IR workflows.
Nasdaq has been annually running its Global IR Issuer Pulse survey, and in Q4 2025, 700 corporate IR professionals answered. 51% of which (up from 30% in 2024) have embedded some form of AI into their day-to-day life. Only 2% had no plan to use the technology at all.
This coincides with another major finding that almost half of the respondent IRs’ lead focus was shareholder engagement, and cited the default investment-facing vehicles of non-deal roadshows as diminishing in importance.
Despite this being the most-used channel, LPs seem much more inclined to consume digitally ‘owned’ content and thought leadership that is well beyond the traditional ‘meet the team’ engagement the roadshow circuit pushes for.
Diversifying efforts to reach allocators has led to AI, and for good reason given its advancing applications. Namely, to those surveyed, to “summarise peer and market events” and to “support earning preparation”; doing more operational work, with less, essentially.
So, what does this mean for fund marketers?
While the Nasdaq audience was not specific to hedge fund or asset management, much of the results apply to investor communications. Public-company IR mandates are found to be expanding including greater oversight of finance-related responsibilities and sustainability reporting duties, for instance.
But also, AI-based automations can play a huge part in fund team workflows, from monitoring and benchmarking competitors to combining internal data, researching for and drafting LP updates.
This is all in light of prospects’ greater expectations for quickly delivered expert content, and LPs’ demanding super-fast DDQ turnaround from GPs. Those without the GenAI means to speed up efficiency could fall behind.
As such, fund marketers that have usually helped IR outreach with event details and pitch decks could also supply them with AI-assisted briefings and thought leadership as tailored substitutes for in-person time that investors want less of.
There are some dangers to be aware of, though. The mandate’s idea of IR absorbing more finance-adjacent duties should not interfere with a marketer or distribution team’s investor communication responsibilities. This could muddle which segmented audiences receive which materials, and from whom.
Second, firms that become too reliant on GenAI may become lenient and miss the all-key human final-check. Not only may AI’s research not pull together compliant or accurate information, but everything becomes less efficient (despite efficiency largely being what AI is trying to solve) if IR workflows and content needs to be retrospectively back-checked.
We live in a time where efficiency is the maximum goalpost, yet also when AI slop is the norm and can derail quality fund communications. There’s a careful balancing act required using GenAI in the face of growing investor expectations, which needs to be ironed out now to avoid trouble further down the pipeline!
