Morningstar CEO discussed AI opportunities and threats including data quality, workflow products, and operational improvements.
“5 Artificial Intelligence 4. AI’s potential impact on information services businesses is a key focus area for investors. We would like to know how management thinks Morningstar scores on an AI framework around both threats & opportunities to the business, including in the following areas: quality of data, industry structure, workflow/mission criticality, revenue model, ability to use AI to improve products and operations, and impact to end market. Please specifically address your more desktop or workflow-based products like PitchBook or Morningstar Direct, and explain what it is that you think still provides advantages and relevance for these products as AI competition rises. In his Q3 25 shareholder letter, CEO Kunal Kapoor shared his thoughts on what we believe AI will mean for Morningstar and our use of AI technologies in three important areas: delivering our data and IP; accelerating speed-to-insights in our products; and boosting the operational excellence of our teams. Kunal addressed many of the issues raised in your question, including the quality of our data, industry structure, revenue model, and ability to use AI to improve products and operations. We also address our data moat and revenue model in separate questions filed as part of this 8-K response. We share a few additional thoughts below on topics not covered elsewhere. - Workflow/mission criticality Software products such as Morningstar Direct, Morningstar Advisor Workstation and its successor, DAS, provide c”