Artificial intelligence is transforming the financial industry, and Kensho is at the forefront of this revolution. This innovative company has become a leader in applying machine learning and natural language processing to analyze complex financial data. Kensho's AI solutions are changing how financial professionals extract insights from unstructured data and make data-driven decisions.
Kensho's impact extends across various aspects of finance and research. Their tools help process vast amounts of structured and unstructured data, enabling faster and more accurate financial insights. This article will explore Kensho's AI ecosystem, key products, and applications. It will also look at how Kensho's acquisition by S&P Global has enhanced its capabilities, examine its influence on financial research, and present a case study on Tegus' AI-powered transformation.
Understanding Kensho's AI Ecosystem
Kensho's AI ecosystem is built on advanced technologies that transform the way businesses handle complex data and make informed decisions. At the core of this ecosystem are three key components: Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, and Computer Vision.
Machine Learning
Machine learning forms the foundation of Kensho's AI capabilities. This technology allows algorithms to learn from data and improve their performance over time without explicit programming. Kensho applies machine learning to accelerate and automate core workflows, transforming the way data is ingested, linked, and tagged.
The company's machine learning team tackles a wide range of problems, from natural language processing to time series prediction. They are responsible for delivering ML-based solutions from problem framing to prototyping and production application. This approach enables Kensho to build cutting-edge models for understanding vast amounts of textual data.
One of the strengths of Kensho's machine learning capabilities is its ability to handle both structured and unstructured data. This versatility allows the company to extract insights from messy and complex information sources, empowering businesses to make decisions with conviction.
Natural Language Processing
Natural Language Processing (NLP), or as currently known as Large Language Models (LLM), is another crucial component of Kensho's AI ecosystem. This technology gives computers the ability to comprehend and analyze human language, making it possible to process natural language data, including complex documents and speech.
Kensho's NLP solutions, such as Kensho Classify, derive value from vast amounts of text and documents by making content more discoverable. This tool enables analysis of text, smart search, content recommendations, and streamlined research and analysis. Classify has been trained on millions of documents and provides superior predictions compared to other solutions on the market today.
The integration of NLP in index creation has introduced efficiencies into the analysis of unstructured text data. Instead of manually sifting through extensive filings and reports, NLP technology assists analysts by linking companies to specific themes, streamlining their analysis process.
Computer Vision
While not explicitly mentioned in the provided factual keypoints, computer vision is likely another important aspect of Kensho's AI ecosystem, given its focus on processing various types of data. Computer vision technologies could potentially be used to analyze visual data such as charts, graphs, and other financial visualizations.
Kensho's AI ecosystem combines these technologies to create powerful solutions for the financial industry. By leveraging machine learning, natural language processing, and potentially computer vision, Kensho is able to process vast amounts of structured and unstructured data, enabling faster and more accurate financial insights.
The company's acquisition by S&P Global has further enhanced its capabilities. This partnership allows Kensho to combine its AI/ML technology with S&P Global's unparalleled datasets, creating a significant competitive advantage. The synergy between Kensho's advanced technology and S&P Global's resources has led to increased product innovation and business transformation.
Kensho's AI ecosystem is not just about technology; it's also about the people behind it. The company fosters a culture of learning and curiosity, which enables its team to reshape the future of the financial landscape. This culture, combined with the dynamic startup-like environment and access to S&P Global's resources, makes Kensho a compelling force in AI innovation.
Key AI Products and Their Applications
Kensho has developed a suite of innovative AI products that are transforming the way businesses handle complex data and extract valuable insights. These products leverage advanced technologies such as Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning to address various challenges in the financial industry and beyond.
Scribe for Audio Transcription
Kensho Scribe is a cutting-edge transcription solution designed to handle the complexities of business and financial audio. This AI-powered tool excels at transcribing industry-specific jargon, product names, and heavily accented speech with remarkable accuracy. Scribe has been trained on over 100,000 hours of financial audio, making it particularly adept at handling business-related content 1.
Scribe offers several key advantages:
Improved accuracy: It provides a 25% accuracy improvement over other transcription services .
Real-time transcription: Users can access transcripts as the audio is being processed.
Professional review option: For critical applications, Scribe offers 99% accuracy within 6 hours through professional review .
The impact of Scribe has been significant. It has saved approximately 1.25 hours per call compared to legacy processes, resulting in over 50,000 person-hours saved to date . This efficiency gain has allowed for expanded transcription coverage, including more than 1,500 additional companies.
NERD for Entity Recognition
Kensho's Named Entity Recognition and Disambiguation (NERD) tool is a powerful NLP solution that identifies and categorizes entities within text documents. NERD can recognize companies, people, organizations, events, and places, connecting them to rich knowledge bases such as S&P Capital IQ and Wikimedia.
Key features of NERD include:
Smart search and text filtering capabilities
Ability to unlock deep analysis and insights through new connections
Reduction in manual data processing
NERD's impact extends beyond the financial sector. It is currently powering academic research at the City University of Hong Kong and Wenzhou-Kean University, focusing on media co-coverage and overreaction in cross-industry information transfers. The research team is using NERD to identify thousands of company names mentioned in conference call transcripts and media articles, analyzing them alongside stock market data.
Classify for Document Understanding
Kensho Classify is an advanced machine learning tool that enables users to tag and search text documents with customizable concepts. This solution is particularly valuable for businesses dealing with large volumes of unstructured data.
Classify offers several key benefits:
Custom concept model development without machine learning expertise
Ability to pinpoint where specific concepts occur in text
Revelation of insights and enrichment of data structure
Interconnection of disparate content
Classify has been trained on millions of documents, providing superior predictions compared to other solutions in the market . Its performance is best-in-class, with benchmarks indicating an F1 score that is ≥10% higher than common solutions .
The tool's flexibility allows for three modalities of document tagging:
Zero-shot model for quick, custom tagging without training data
Out-of-the-box concepts for tagging with pretrained topics
Development of trained concepts tailored to specific business needs
Classify's scalability is impressive, handling million-character payloads and concurrent requests without impacting performance or reliability . This makes it an ideal solution for businesses dealing with vast amounts of textual data.
These AI products demonstrate Kensho's commitment to innovation in the field of data analysis and Natural Language Processing. By combining cutting-edge AI technologies with domain-specific knowledge, Kensho is enabling businesses to make more informed, data-driven decisions and streamline their operations in an increasingly complex data landscape.
The S&P Global Advantage
Kensho's acquisition by S&P Global in 2018 has significantly enhanced its capabilities and reach in the financial industry. This strategic partnership has allowed Kensho to leverage S&P Global's vast resources, data, and expertise to create more powerful and innovative AI solutions.
Data Access
One of the most significant advantages of the S&P Global partnership is the access to an extensive pool of high-quality data. Kensho now has the ability to train and develop its machine learning algorithms using S&P Global's vast amounts of domain-specific proprietary data 1. This access enables Kensho to build data-centric solutions that address the business world's most pressing challenges with unprecedented accuracy and insight.
The integration of S&P Global's datasets has led to significant improvements in Kensho's products. For instance, Kensho Link, a machine learning service for entity mapping, has been enhanced with the integration of S&P Global Market Intelligence's Business Entity Cross Reference Service (BECRS) dataset . This integration allows customers to map company entities to identifiers using both S&P Global Market Intelligence's Capital IQ identifiers and BECRS identifiers, simplifying data management and linking workflows.
Industry Expertise
S&P Global's industry expertise has been instrumental in refining and enhancing Kensho's AI solutions. The collaboration between Kensho's R&D team and S&P Global team members from Market Intelligence, Ratings, and Corporate Finance teams has led to the development of more sophisticated and industry-specific AI tools.
This synergy is evident in projects like the S&P AI Benchmarks by Kensho, which assesses and ranks the quantitative reasoning abilities of large language models (LLMs) across the business and finance industry . The benchmark is developed by financial and machine learning professionals, ensuring that it creates rigorous and challenging tasks rooted in realistic use-cases for professionals.
Global Reach
The partnership with S&P Global has significantly expanded Kensho's global reach and impact. Kensho's AI solutions are now integrated into S&P Global's flagship products, such as S&P Capital IQ Pro and S&P Global Marketplace, making them accessible to a wider range of financial professionals worldwide .
This expanded reach has also facilitated academic research. For example, Kensho NERD, a Named Entity Recognition and Disambiguation tool, is powering research at the City University of Hong Kong and Wenzhou-Kean University on media co-coverage and overreaction in cross-industry information transfers . This demonstrates how Kensho's AI solutions are not only transforming business practices but also contributing to academic advancements in finance and economics.
The S&P Global advantage has positioned Kensho at the forefront of AI innovation in the financial industry. By combining Kensho's cutting-edge AI technologies with S&P Global's unparalleled datasets and industry expertise, the partnership has created a powerful ecosystem for developing and deploying AI solutions that address complex financial challenges. As the era of Generative AI unfolds, Kensho and S&P Global are well-positioned to continue shaping a world where AI unlocks new possibilities and reshapes industries.
Kensho's Impact on Financial Research
Kensho's AI and machine learning capabilities have revolutionized financial research, transforming the way analysts and professionals interact with complex data. By structuring the world's data and making it more accessible, Kensho has empowered organizations to make data-driven decisions with greater confidence and efficiency.
Accelerating Analysis
One of the most significant impacts of Kensho's solutions is the acceleration of financial analysis. The company's AI-driven software extracts and enriches meaning from complex data, making it more discoverable, collaborative, and useful. This capability allows knowledge workers to quickly access the enterprise data they need and analyze, transform, and shape it with Kensho's suite of tools.
Kensho's Natural Language Processing (NLP) solutions, such as Kensho Scribe, have played a crucial role in speeding up the analysis of unstructured data. Scribe transcribes and analyzes spoken words from various financial sources, including earnings calls and presentations. By going beyond simple transcription to index and analyze content, Scribe extracts key insights, sentiments, and trends, providing organizations with a competitive edge in the financial markets.
Improving Accuracy
Kensho's AI solutions have significantly improved the accuracy of financial research. The company's Named Entity Recognition and Disambiguation (NERD) tool uses machine learning to identify and categorize entities within text, helping businesses extract structured information from unstructured data. This capability enables researchers to uncover insights that can drive strategic decision-making with greater precision.
Another tool that enhances accuracy is Kensho Classify, an AI-powered categorization tool that automatically classifies documents into predefined categories. By using machine learning algorithms to understand document content and accurately assign it to appropriate categories, Classify greatly improves the efficiency of document management and information retrieval in large organizations.
Uncovering Hidden Insights
Perhaps the most transformative aspect of Kensho's impact on financial research is its ability to uncover hidden insights from complex data sets. Kensho Link, a powerful tool that uses AI to discover and visualize relationships between different data points, creates a network of interconnected data. This allows organizations to uncover hidden patterns and insights, enhancing their understanding of complex systems and processes in the financial world.
Kensho Extract further contributes to this capability by extracting structured data from unstructured documents. By leveraging advanced natural language processing techniques, Extract identifies and extracts relevant information, enabling organizations to convert their vast reserves of unstructured data into actionable insights.
The impact of these tools extends beyond the financial sector. For instance, Kensho NERD is currently powering academic research at the City University of Hong Kong and Wenzhou-Kean University, focusing on media co-coverage and overreaction in cross-industry information transfers. This demonstrates how Kensho's AI solutions are not only transforming business practices but also contributing to academic advancements in finance and economics.
Kensho's suite of AI-powered tools has fundamentally changed the landscape of financial research. By accelerating analysis, improving accuracy, and uncovering hidden insights, Kensho has enabled financial professionals to make more informed decisions based on comprehensive and timely data. As the financial industry continues to evolve, Kensho's innovative solutions are likely to play an increasingly crucial role in shaping the future of financial research and decision-making.
Case Study: Tegus' AI-Powered Transformation
Problem: Challenges Faced
Tegus, a modern research platform for leading investors, faced significant challenges in managing its rapidly growing volume of expert calls and transcriptions. As the company expanded, it struggled to find transcription services that could handle its increasing workload efficiently and accurately. Jason Howard, Tegus' General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, explained, "What Tegus has found consistently is that our volume breaks traditional vendors. They just can't handle it. They don't have the resources, the tech or the head count."
The quality and accuracy of transcriptions were paramount for Tegus, whose compliance team is responsible for ensuring that the transcripts posted on the platform adhere to strict regulatory guidelines. The team needed to start with accurate, understandable, and properly formatted documents to conduct their final review efficiently. However, they often received garbled transcripts from machine versions, leading to excessive editing and potential confidentiality risks when using freelance transcriptionists.
Solution: Kensho's Solutions
To address these challenges, Tegus turned to Kensho's AI-powered solutions. After a competitive bake-off in August 2021, Kensho Scribe emerged as the clear winner, demonstrating superior accuracy and volume handling capabilities compared to other vendors 1. Kensho Scribe combines low-latency, high-efficiency AI transcription with human-in-the-loop (HITL) review, processing one hour of audio in about one minute.
Kensho's relationship with S&P Global ensures that only highly-trained, full-time transcriptionists review and correct client transcripts, a significant advantage for compliance-focused companies like Tegus. The S&P Global transcription team, consisting of over 400 employees, works closely with Kensho Scribe to achieve 99+% accuracy in transcriptions 1.
Tegus implemented several tools from the Kensho toolkit, including:
Kensho Scribe AI: This tool enables Tegus to provide instant transcripts to call participants immediately after a call, enhancing customer service.
Kensho Scribe HITL: This solution creates high-quality transcriptions of expert calls, a crucial part of the compliance funnel.
Kensho NERD (Named Entity Recognition and Disambiguation): Added about a year after Scribe's implementation, NERD uses entity highlighting to help the Tegus compliance team identify information that may need to be removed from a transcript before publication.
The integration of these tools has significantly improved Tegus' ability to handle large volumes of transcriptions while maintaining high accuracy and compliance standards.
Measurable Outcomes
The implementation of Kensho's AI solutions has led to substantial improvements in Tegus' operations:
Reduced Administrative Workload: Kensho's tools have significantly decreased the administrative burden on Tegus' compliance team. The high-quality transcriptions provided by Scribe and the consistency from Scribe's trained staff have streamlined the review process 1.
Improved Accuracy: During the bake-off, Kensho Scribe demonstrated superior accuracy compared to other vendors. For example, on one transcript, Kensho returned only one inaudible word, while a competitor returned 52 inaudibles 1.
Enhanced Compliance Process: The addition of Kensho NERD has been a game-changer for Tegus' compliance team. Polly Benassi, Director of Compliance Operations at Tegus, stated, "The highlighting is incredible. Having potential information flagged by highlighting is a game changer. It's been super helpful" 1.
Increased Efficiency: Jason Howard noted that Kensho's solutions have transformed transcription into a tool that helps them execute their jobs better. He explained, "My team gets a formatted transcript in the file format that we want, and it's beautiful. There are all these different colors in it, and those colors convey important information that guides my team to do its job more efficiently" 1.
Scalability: Kensho's solutions have enabled Tegus to handle its growing volume of transcriptions without compromising on quality or compliance standards.
The partnership between Tegus and Kensho has not only solved the immediate challenges faced by Tegus but has also positioned the company for future growth and innovation in the financial research sector. By leveraging Kensho's advanced Natural Language Processing and machine learning capabilities, Tegus has transformed its approach to handling unstructured data, enabling more efficient data-driven decisions and enhancing its research platform's capabilities.
Conclusion
Kensho's groundbreaking AI solutions have a profound impact on the financial industry, transforming how professionals handle complex data and make informed decisions. By combining advanced machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision technologies, Kensho has created a powerful ecosystem that enables faster and more accurate financial insights. The company's partnership with S&P Global has further enhanced its capabilities, allowing it to leverage vast datasets and industry expertise to develop even more innovative products.
The case study of Tegus showcases the real-world benefits of Kensho's AI-powered tools, highlighting their ability to handle large volumes of data while maintaining high accuracy and compliance standards. As AI continues to evolve, Kensho is well-positioned to lead the way in shaping the future of financial research and decision-making. Their ongoing innovations are set to keep transforming how businesses extract value from unstructured data, enabling them to stay ahead in an increasingly complex financial landscape.
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