Event saw IROs, investors and capital market experts discuss the impact of the technology on the capital markets
AI is rapidly changing how investor relations teams gather data, communicate with investors and measure engagement. However, as AI usage continues to climb, new challenges emerge beyond mere implementation.
At the recent IR Impact Forum – AI & Technology Europe 2026, which was held in London last week, IR professionals, buy-side investors and technology experts came together to explore how AI is making waves in the IR community. From investor targeting to market research, the panels, workshops and discussions reflected one clear message: while AI may accelerate aspects of the IR role, it also raises questions around credibility, trust, reliance and the impact on our daily interactions.
Digital associate
The opening panel explored how AI is being implemented across the investor relations landscape, featuring Alexandre Bouvier, co-founder and CEO at OPENIR Technologies; Jane Henderson, investor relations manager at BAT; and Luke Murphy, head of investor relations and chief of staff at TPX impact.
As a large-cap comparison, Henderson described how the IR team at BAT is ‘cautiously experimenting’ with using AI for investor relations workflow, but they are ‘not yet relying on AI for anything 100 percent’.
She also drew parallels between technological advancement and insights from her previous career. ‘Before my life in IR, I was sell-side for about 20 years, and then before that, I was in academia studying animal behaviour,’ she revealed. ‘One parallel is the evolutionary arms race. You typically see this with predators and prey, where two or more species are adapting and trying to outcompete each other. And I think in IR, we’ve been doing this for years in response to changing market dynamics. We’re all very good at adapting.’
Murphy explained that as a small-cap IRO, his focus for AI was ‘time efficiency’. ‘I’m incredibly time poor and have been wearing many hats for years,’ he said. ‘What AI has specifically done for me is become my digital associate.’
AI tools have different personalities
During his workshop titled ‘Using AI tools to enrich your capital markets day preparation’, Richard Manning, head of investor relations at International Workplace Group, described how different AI tools can work in tandem for the same task.
He illustrated this by describing each tool as having its own personality: ‘I essentially think of ChatGPT as the very keen intern,’ he said. ‘It’s often wrong, it’s often confidently wrong, but it will give you answers very quickly.
‘Claude is very good for very long documents, very analytical tools, very large decks, identifying themes across multiple slides,’ he added, comparing Anthropic’s tool to ‘the slightly aloof MBA student. It takes a bit longer, but it normally gives you the more perfect answer.’
Ultimately, Manning’s reframed idea of AI has one underlying factor: ‘AI won’t replace IR, but IR using AI will win.’
Reshaping the IR workflow
In a panel titled ‘Showcasing the impact: how to build a clear AI for IR strategy that demonstrates measurable ROI,’ Daniel Györy, senior director, investor relations at Infineon, explained that significant technological shifts are yet to occur.
‘From a technology point of view, I think there is a lot of stuff that is going to happen in the coming years,’ he said. ‘I think probably in two or three years, there will be perfectly polished [AI-generated] presentations coming out, and they will look flawlessly prepared from some associate, but the question is, will the content keep up?’
Györy warned of the possible over-reliance on these tools: ‘I think about our upcoming annual report right now and the strategy section, which I’m taking care of now, the question is, do I start myself, or do I start with AI?’ he said. ‘Ultimately you can pass on a certain part of the thinking process to AI, but I think we need to take care that there’s not too much creativity taken away by AI.’
AI fundamentally changes communication
Later in the afternoon, the discussion turned to how communication with investors has shifted as a result of AI. Matt Johnson, group communications director at Vodafone, explained how the communications company has moved towards a more ‘digital-first, data-driven IR’ model.
At the center of this strategy is understanding what he called a ‘four-step value chain’. He explained the first as recognizing the market as ‘a series of buyers and a series of sellers’ rather than a singular entity. The second step focuses on messaging, with two core aims: ‘To solicit action and influence outcome, to figure out what it is that we’re trying to make these people do that they otherwise wouldn’t have done.’
The third stage focuses on ‘the distribution of the channel and the message,’ followed by the last step: feedback loops.
‘AI fundamentally changes every single one of those steps,’ Johnson explained. ‘It changes who we’re talking to, because it’s not just who; it’s what we’re talking to. It changes what types of messages that we get across. It changes the channel and how we’re going to get that message to them. And it changes the feedback and figuring out Did it work or not?’
AI can do many things, but it cannot replace human interactions
Nevertheless, while the rapid evolution of AI tools may make existing processes more productive, it cannot replace the connection that IROs must build between investors and companies.
Alex Bibani, senior portfolio manager at Allianz Global Investors, said that global investors spend a lot of time filtering through information. ‘AI is a massive accelerator of research and a tool to upgrade conversations, but it doesn’t reduce the importance of the relationship with the company,’ he explained. Instead, it can allow investors to be ‘better informed’ in meetings by accumulating company information, which enables his team to focus more deeply on the interaction itself.
‘So when it comes to actually doing some work, we really need to understand what it is that you do,’ he added. ‘That process could have taken me two to three months previously. Now with the prompt… we can get all of that data in 20 minutes.’
The key for IROs is to make investment-crucial data easy to access on company websites, freeing up time that might be spent looking for it for more strategic activities.
