GIC to expand AI use after initial trials to review deals yield positive results

Artificial intelligence (AI) will have a foundational impact on the world, and offers unparalleled opportunities for investments and operations, said GIC chief executive Lim Chow Kiat.

As a result, the Singapore sovereign wealth fund is looking to leverage the technology not just through investments, but also by adopting it in the company, he noted, at the release of GIC’s report for the financial year ended Mar 31, 2025.

Within the organisation, GIC is trialling a virtual investment committee member with its fixed income and multi-asset departments.

This AI agent reviews deal terms and information and raises questions, based on public information as well as GIC’s internal data.

Lim said that the company has received positive feedback since it was deployed a year ago, and that GIC is now developing different personas for the AI agent to introduce additional perspectives and enable more robust discussions.

“We are applying technology to the heart of our business; we’re not just using AI in the periphery of our work,” he added. “So if it works, the value would be tremendous to us – we just have to use it with caution.”

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He noted that users have to be mindful to validate responses from the agent, given that a lot of large language models are designed to please the user.

GIC’s AI journey, which began in 2023 when it established its AI Council, was initially focused on laying the foundations for good data, tools, and governance.

It is now looking to embrace and accelerate the adoption of AI, while maintaining robust governance.

Granular investments in AI value chain

Meanwhile, the sovereign wealth fund applies its granular approach in investments across the AI value chain, said Bryan Yeo, group chief investment officer at GIC.

It breaks down the AI value chain into three categories: enablers, monetisers and adopters.

Enablers are companies that build infrastructure to scale up AI capabilities, and have been a major beneficiary in recent years.

Yeo noted that GIC had invested in these companies “quite significantly” in the last five to 10 years.

Monetisers are companies that create and sell AI-infused products, while many adopters are companies that are integrating AI to improve processes, boost productivity and unlock growth.

As GIC is focused on long-term value, the key characteristics it looks for in companies are durable moats, differentiated technology and teams, and sound business models, said Yeo.

Some companies that GIC has invested in include digital infrastructure provider Equinix; data and AI governance platform Atlan; data and AI company Databricks; and financial operations platform Ramp.

GIC also uses its long-term flexible capital and its global network to enable the growth of global AI capabilities and adoption. This means that it works with companies to scale up their AI and tech capabilities, and also connects tech and AI startup founders with the multinational corporations that GIC is invested in.

But AI will likely lead to a very high velocity of value creation, as well as value destruction, globally in the next five to 10 years, Yeo added.

He expects to divest companies going forward if he sees a high risk of them not being able to transform and adapt to the new world, where competitors adopt AI to be more efficient, more productive and generate much greater revenues and profits.

“We are still at the very early stage of this multi-year AI evolution; so while we are hunting and looking for the opportunities, we are constantly thinking about where value is going to be diminished going forward.”