Toronto-based Manulife Financial Corp. announced on Tuesday that it’s working with San Diego, Calif.-based Nervana Systems to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) tool designed to help Manulife’s portfolio managers in their decision-making process.
Employees within Manulife’s Lab of Forward Thinking (LOFT), the firm’s technology space, will use applications developed by Nervana, a technology company that specializes in AI, in the development of the tool, according to an announcement.
Manulife’s LOFT will be building a program that incorporates “deep learning,” a type of machine learning, that will enable the firm’s computer system to analyze data that comes from the online research, financial news, emails and documents that portfolio managers receive each day.
“The complexity of the financial markets and vast amount of data generated make deep learning an ideal fit for financial services companies,” says Naveen Rao, CEO of Nervana Systems, in a statement. “[Nervana’s cloud platform] will help Manulife’s portfolio managers quickly organize, search and analyze new and historical financial data to make faster and more accurate investment decisions.”
Adds Greg Framke, executive vice president and chief information officer with Manulife, in a statement: “This partnership with Nervana accelerates our development efforts and our understanding of this new technology. Deep learning and AI technologies have the potential to enhance research efforts in virtually all areas of the company.”
Manulife’s LOFT in Toronto will be leading the project.
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