MSCI & BlackRock Deepen AI Index Partnership

This partnership builds on a long-standing relationship, with BlackRock's Aladdin platform already hosted on Microsoft's Azure cloud. The collaboration between MSCI and Microsoft, initiated in 2020, aims to modernize MSCI's data and analytics infrastructure. This deeper integration will leverage Microsoft's cloud and AI technology with MSCI's extensive financial data and analytical models to create next-generation investment tools. The new "IndexAI Insights" tool functions as a conversational AI, allowing clients to query MSCI's vast index data using natural language. This is facilitated through integrations with major AI providers, including an MSCI app in OpenAI's ChatGPT and a connector in Claude, all accessible via the MSCI ONE cloud platform. This enables users to ask complex questions about index performance, composition, and methodology and receive immediate, data-grounded answers. This move is part of a broader industry trend where major financial players are embedding generative AI to enhance their core offerings. BlackRock itself launched an AI-powered "Aladdin Copilot" in 2023 to help investment managers more efficiently analyze data and manage portfolios. These tools aim to democratize access to sophisticated analytics, previously only available to the largest firms with extensive resources. MSCI's strategy involves creating a suite of AI-powered solutions beyond just index products. The company plans to extend these AI capabilities to other areas like Private Assets to support due diligence, underwriting, and reporting. They are also collaborating with Google Cloud to develop generative AI tools for climate risk analysis and portfolio decarbonization. For BlackRock, this is one of several major AI-focused infrastructure investments. The asset manager is part of the AI Infrastructure Partnership (AIP), a collaboration with Microsoft, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), and others, which aims to mobilize up to $100 billion to invest in data centers and the energy infrastructure required to power them. MSCI's recent financial performance highlights the growth in its data and analytics segments. In the fourth quarter of 2025, the company reported a 14% increase in Index operating revenues and a 5.5% increase in Analytics operating revenues. The company's full-year 2025 operating revenues grew by 9.7% to $3.13 billion. The underlying technology for these new MSCI tools combines generative AI with the firm's proprietary analytics and modeling. For private market applications, MSCI is developing AI to automate data intake from documents, generate summaries of lengthy legal agreements, and provide a traceable audit trail for every data point. The goal is to achieve 95% AI coverage for routine tasks in this sector by the end of 2026. The long-term ETF agreement between MSCI and BlackRock has been extended through 2035, underscoring the strategic importance of asset-based fee revenues for MSCI. This continued partnership ensures a stable foundation as both firms push deeper into technology-driven product offerings.