The Bloomberg Terminal Is Getting an AI Makeover
(Tuesday April 28, 2026 @05:00PM (BeauHD)
from the like-it-or-not dept.)
- Reference: 0183031270
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/04/28/1832202/the-bloomberg-terminal-is-getting-an-ai-makeover
- Source link:
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired:
> For its famous intractability, the [1]Bloomberg Terminal has long inspired devotion, bordering on obsession. Among traders, the ability to chart a path through the software's dizzying scrolls of numbers and text to isolate far-flung information is the mark of a seasoned professional. But as a greater mass of data is fed into the Terminal -- not only earnings and asset prices, but weather forecasts, shipping logs, factory locations, consumer spending patterns, private loans, and so on -- valuable information is being lost. "It has become more and more untenable," says Shawn Edwards, chief technology officer at Bloomberg. "You miss things, or it takes too long."
>
> To try to remedy the problem, Bloomberg is [2]testing a chatbot-style interface for the Terminal , ASKB (pronounced ask-bee), built atop a basket of different language models. The broad idea is to help finance professionals to condense labor-intensive tasks, and make it possible to test abstract investment theses against the data through natural language prompts. As of publication, the [3]ASKB beta is open to roughly a third of the software's 375,000 users; Bloomberg has not specified a date for a full release.
Wired spoke with Edwards at Bloomberg's palatial London headquarters in early April, where he shared several examples of what ASKB can do. "With ASKB, I can create workflow templates. I can write a long query, and say, 'Hey, here's all the data I'm going to need. Give me a synopsis of the bull and bear cases, what the Street is saying, what the guidance is.' Now, I want to schedule [the workflows] or trigger them when I see this or that condition in the world."
As for what separates mediocre traders from the best, assuming both have access to the same data, Edwards said: "These tools are not magical. They don't make an average [employee] all of a sudden great. The difference will be your ideas. In the hands of experts, it allows them to do better analysis, deeper research -- to sift through 10 great ideas when they might have only had time for one. If you're a mediocre analyst, they'll be 10 mediocre ideas."
[1] https://professional.bloomberg.com/products/bloomberg-terminal/
[2] https://www.wired.com/story/the-bloomberg-terminal-is-getting-an-ai-makeover-like-it-or-not/
[3] https://www.bloomberg.com/professional/insights/press-announcement/meet-askb-a-first-look-at-the-future-of-the-bloomberg-terminal-in-the-age-of-agentic-ai/
> For its famous intractability, the [1]Bloomberg Terminal has long inspired devotion, bordering on obsession. Among traders, the ability to chart a path through the software's dizzying scrolls of numbers and text to isolate far-flung information is the mark of a seasoned professional. But as a greater mass of data is fed into the Terminal -- not only earnings and asset prices, but weather forecasts, shipping logs, factory locations, consumer spending patterns, private loans, and so on -- valuable information is being lost. "It has become more and more untenable," says Shawn Edwards, chief technology officer at Bloomberg. "You miss things, or it takes too long."
>
> To try to remedy the problem, Bloomberg is [2]testing a chatbot-style interface for the Terminal , ASKB (pronounced ask-bee), built atop a basket of different language models. The broad idea is to help finance professionals to condense labor-intensive tasks, and make it possible to test abstract investment theses against the data through natural language prompts. As of publication, the [3]ASKB beta is open to roughly a third of the software's 375,000 users; Bloomberg has not specified a date for a full release.
Wired spoke with Edwards at Bloomberg's palatial London headquarters in early April, where he shared several examples of what ASKB can do. "With ASKB, I can create workflow templates. I can write a long query, and say, 'Hey, here's all the data I'm going to need. Give me a synopsis of the bull and bear cases, what the Street is saying, what the guidance is.' Now, I want to schedule [the workflows] or trigger them when I see this or that condition in the world."
As for what separates mediocre traders from the best, assuming both have access to the same data, Edwards said: "These tools are not magical. They don't make an average [employee] all of a sudden great. The difference will be your ideas. In the hands of experts, it allows them to do better analysis, deeper research -- to sift through 10 great ideas when they might have only had time for one. If you're a mediocre analyst, they'll be 10 mediocre ideas."
[1] https://professional.bloomberg.com/products/bloomberg-terminal/
[2] https://www.wired.com/story/the-bloomberg-terminal-is-getting-an-ai-makeover-like-it-or-not/
[3] https://www.bloomberg.com/professional/insights/press-announcement/meet-askb-a-first-look-at-the-future-of-the-bloomberg-terminal-in-the-age-of-agentic-ai/
I used the AI, then I lost money, now I'm suing (Score:3)
Now I'm suing Bloomberg.
Re: (Score:1)
If you're big enough to sue Bloomberg you're big enough to bribe Trump for a bailout.
Much much cheaper and much higher rate of return. Basically a guaranteed rate of return as long you don't cheap out on the bribe.
Re: (Score:2)
> Now I'm suing Bloomberg.
The (annoying) Google Finance "Beta" page says, "AI content may include mistakes." at the bottom. I imagine Bloomberg's offerings will contain similar CYA disclaimers.
We're increasingly being force-fed this distasteful, annoying AI slop as companies experiment and look to justify their investments, with fewer ways around and/or disabling it. For example, according to their help page, the Google Finance Beta page is suppose to have a "Classic | Beta" toggle, but I've yet to see it, on either version, as
Re: (Score:2)
> ... and I've said so via the Feedback link.
That Google probably will never read, but, if they do, will ignore.