AI will change private markets, like Ford changed the manufacturing industry

Whether you drive one today or not, the Ford Motor Company changed the way goods are produced forever.  

The company introduced the assembly line, where a car moved down a conveyer belt and each worker focused on one specific aspect of making a vehicle, creating the process of mass production. This innovation cut the time to produce a car from 12.5 hours to just 1.5 hours, an 88% decrease, and allowed Ford to pay wages double the industry average for this boring, repetitive work.  

Now we’re at a similar point with AI, but with a twist. Rather than the workday becoming more monotonous, AI gives professionals the opportunity to outsource the repetitive, routine work, leaving them to focus on strategic questions that demand creative thinking.  

Consultancy PwC has predicted that this is the year that private companies should invest in AI, as the technology’s benefits of scale become available to all, giving smaller companies a valuable edge against larger competitors.  

“With a ready-to-use bundle or 'starter pack' of services, almost any company can give employees access to secure, risk-managed AI,” PwC’s 2025 AI Business Predictions reports.  

Capital is following the technology. Pitchbook estimates that across private equity and venture capital, investment in AI and machine learning hit $150B in 2024, nearly 60% higher than in 2023, fueling the AI hype you’ve seen across the media.  

At the same time, concerns exist about the effect of the continuing rise of AI on cybersecurity. And with good cause, as the cost of cybercrime globally is forecast to be $10.5T annually.  

“This is a very emergent technology. There has been amazing progress over the last two years, but media reports about hallucinations and security stick,” says Sachin Anandikar, CTO, Pemberton Asset Management. “There are answers to those concerns, but for those who don’t want to learn it becomes difficult for them to understand the complexities of the technology.”  

Many sector-specific private market AI tools are built with security considerations front of mind. This ensures that client data remains offline: either never leaving a company’s own system, or staying siloed inside the AI provider’s cloud environment.  

On top of that, private markets firms should work with established providers that have built their systems using reputable partners and have appropriate security accreditations, such as ISO/IEC 27001:2022, SOC2, and Cyber Essentials.  

For many private capital firms, particularly those with stretched, lean legal teams, adopting AI will be game-changing. However, skepticism of what the technology is capable of remains a challenge for providers, and more education is needed to ensure AI providers and AI users’ experiences are aligned.  

“I also think some AI providers are overpromising, which doesn’t help, signposting near-term capabilities that I just don’t see them delivering,” Paul Loynes, Legal Consultant and former General Counsel and Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers says.  

To help find the right use cases for private capital firms, Robin AI has identified five core business goals that AI can currently deliver against in the most recent AI in Private Markets report.  

1. Speed

GPs have record levels of dry powder to deploy, but markets demand a fine balance of speed and caution. AI can accelerate key processes like side letter management without sacrificing quality, enabling firms to do more business faster.  

2. Efficiency

Both due diligence and fundraising processes are becoming longer and more complex, putting pressure on teams across the business. AI can drastically cut diligence timelines by automating the first stage of most manual tasks, creating bandwidth to get deals across the line.  

3. Compliance

Even with a possible loosening of regulation in the U.S., fund managers and LPs are facing a growing global regulatory burden and demands for greater transparency on their investments and their environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials. AI can help firms stay compliant by tracking and reporting on obligations across multiple jurisdictions, without complicating workflows.  

4. Relationships

Improve investor relationships Increasing market complexity, longer hold periods, and evolving fund structures require enhanced communication. Streamlined document management and negotiations facilitated by AI encourage more time for personal interactions and more incisive communication with stakeholders, including investors.

5. Insights

With AI, institutional investors and GPs can access a new layer of insight and analysis, transforming their messy, unstructured contract banks into legal data assets for enhanced decision-making.  

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