The giant hedge fund WorldQuant saw a record number of people enter its prestigious quantitative trading competition this year, and the company attributes this to the growing role of artificial intelligence in the field. The contest, which challenges university students to build complex trading models, attracted a record 80,000 participants, double the number from last year.
The rise of AI has made it easier for students from diverse backgrounds to develop the sophisticated algorithms needed to compete. These kinds of contests have become a major source of new talent for some of the world’s biggest hedge funds.
“The interesting difference this year… was that there were a lot of teams that had only one person,” said Igor Tulchinsky, the founder of WorldQuant, which manages over $7 billion in assets. “And I think a lot of people are using AI and language models to help them.”
Tulchinsky noted that some teams were using AI agents to perform a range of tasks, from reading documents and evaluating ideas to running simulations in a fully automated manner. The competition, known as the International Quant Championship, tests participants’ ability to effectively utilize mathematical models to predict future stock prices and other financial instrument values. This year’s top prize went to a student from South Korea.
The success of the competition reflects the growing influence of “quant” hedge funds, which utilize sophisticated computer models to inform their investment decisions. Tulchinsky said his own firm is now focused on developing “agentic systems”—autonomous AIs that can analyze markets and make investment decisions independently. His goal is to have one million of these AI agents working for him in the next few years.
