Morningstar Steps Up Use of Machine-Generated Investment Reports

According to a report in the Financial Times, Morningstar has begun using robots to write investment commentary on thousands of mutual funds. The machine-generated reports feed Morningstar’s  fund analyst ratings, which run through gold, silver, and bronze to neutral or negative, but are separate from Morningstar’s star ratings system. According to the report, Morningstar’s 130 analysts will continue to provide written reports on the most popular funds, numbering about 4,300, and the machine-generated reports will apply to 37,962 funds. The FT reported that Morningstar has been using machine-generated reports since 2017, and the inputs consider the same factors as do the analysts such as fees, track record and portfolio risk.