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A paper  by Brian Bruce, Lead Independent Director of the Cushing Funds, and Korok Ray, an academic from the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University, aims to provide tools necessary to understand quantitative and AI investing and how these investments can be overseen by fund boards. The paper describes the emergence and history of quantitative investing and explains how artificial intelligence is employed in investment strategies. The authors explain that both quantitative and AI funds use hypothetical back-testing to confirm that the strategy will work going forward and the related SEC concerns with using hypothetical back-tested performance. The paper also describes the risks related to such strategies and oversight challenges for fund directors. For instance, boards may have a more difficult time assessing the adviser’s ability with respect to an AI strategy;  boards may also find that the adviser has a limited track record with the investments and/or strategy employed by the new fund. Overall, the paper is a helpful resource for fund directors who can expect these investment strategies to appear in their fund complexes. Join Brian Bruce and Korok Ray on December 17, 2020  as they present an MFDF webinar on the topic. Registration will be available on the Forum’s website in the weeks leading up to the webinar.