The Copilot Phase of AI

We spent this week at InvestOps 2026 speaking with operations and investment teams about how AI is actually being used inside firms today. One theme came up repeatedly when the conversation turned to what tools are in practice right now.

For many firms, the AI journey still largely starts and ends with Microsoft Copilot.

That makes sense. Copilot is already embedded in tools teams use every day, like Outlook, Teams, Word, and Excel, so enabling it is often the easiest way for organizations to begin experimenting with AI. But when we asked how often it’s actually used in day-to-day work, the responses were fairly consistent. Most firms technically have access to Copilot, but many people do not use it regularly, and some teams simply do not like using it.

In several conversations, people mentioned that they often prefer using other AI tools, but those are not always approved or easily accessible within the firm’s environment. Even when multiple tools are available, adoption appears uneven. One analysis of enterprise AI usage found that only about 8 percent of users chose Copilot as their preferred assistant when alternatives were available.

Part of the challenge is that most of these tools still sit outside the actual workflow. Investment teams operate in very specific environments built around internal research, models, emails, meeting notes, and market data. General assistants may help summarize a document or draft an email, but they are rarely connected to the firm’s internal knowledge in a way that makes them meaningfully more valuable in the investment process.

What we are seeing is that many firms are still in what you could call the Copilot phase of AI adoption. Tools are being enabled, and teams are experimenting, but the technology has not yet been fully integrated into the data and workflows that investment teams rely on every day.

That next step is where things may start to get interesting.

~Ryan Erickson, Founding Executive

About Shift
Investment research shouldn't be this hard. Shift turns your firm's scattered knowledge into powerful insights with AI built for how you actually work. We're a team of builders and finance experts based in Charlottesville, VA.