Proving Alpha: How a Hedge Fund Measures AI's ROI - Hari Kumar, Contour Asset Management

Hari Kumar, head of AI at Contour Asset Management, a $6B fundamental long/short fund focused on tech, media and telecom, tackles the hardest question in AI adoption: what are we actually getting for the spend? He shares how Contour runs live A/B tests of analysts' research with and without AI tools, tracks "cost per useful insight," uses agents to resurface old ideas when the market makes them interesting again, and extends the same thinking to trading, ops and compliance. Chapters 00:00 Intro: AI at a $6B fundamental fund 01:45 Why AI ROI is so hard to capture 02:25 Live A/B tests of researc