TL;DR:
- Moody’s, a credit rating agency, is excited about the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to evaluate financial data and transform its business.
- Moody’s is using generative AI technologies in various tools, such as the Research Assistant, CreditLens, and GitHub Copilot, to assist in creating credit memos, simplifying data analysis, enhancing real estate portfolio monitoring, and improving coding efficiency.
- The company sees generative AI as an enabler to human judgment in the rating process and is working with regulators to ensure transparency and compliance.
- Moody’s stock fell almost 8% after missing earnings expectations, despite the AI initiatives.
Moody’s, a credit rating agency, is embracing the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to evaluate financial data and transform its business. In its recent earnings call, the company mentioned “GenAI” at least 33 times, highlighting the importance of generative AI technologies in its operations. Although this AI focus wasn’t enough to boost Moody’s stock, which fell nearly 8% after missing earnings expectations, the company remains optimistic about the disruptive power of AI in the financial services industry.
Moody’s has introduced several AI-powered tools, including the Research Assistant, which combines generative AI technology with proprietary data to create credit memos. This tool aims to provide insights into borrowers and assist in decision-making processes. Additionally, Moody’s offers CreditLens, a tool that simplifies credit data collection, analysis, and storage. The company plans to launch a generative AI-enabled capability that can generate a credit memo within seconds, saving significant time for loan officers and credit professionals.
Furthermore, Moody’s leverages generative AI in its commercial real estate portfolio monitoring capabilities. The AI technology enhances its early warning system, enabling the identification of at-risk exposures in portfolios and the proactive management of potential losses. The use of generative AI also allows for better integration of data sets and enables real-time evaluation of news events impacting commercial real estate.
Moody’s is not limited to utilizing AI solely for financial analysis. It has rolled out GitHub Copilot, an AI coding assistant tool, to over 1,500 engineers within the company. This tool has resulted in efficiency gains in the engineering budget. The company plans to extend the use of AI tools to its sales teams in the future. Additionally, Moody’s is exploring the application of generative AI in summarizing lengthy PDF documents.
Despite their enthusiasm for AI, Moody’s executives emphasize that generative AI serves as a complement to human judgment in the rating process rather than a replacement. The company aims to be transparent and deliberate in its use of AI, engaging in dialogue with regulators to ensure compliance. This aligns with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent call for companies to avoid “AI washing” by clearly disclosing their use of AI and the associated risks.
In conclusion, Moody’s sees great promise in AI’s ability to evaluate financial data and enhance its operations. While the company has experienced stock market setbacks, it remains committed to leveraging generative AI technologies and working with regulators to maintain transparency.