Equity research is unbundling from the analyst

Today: analysts spend much of their time gathering filings, summarizing calls, and updating models — high-cost, low-differentiation work.

The next five years: that first-pass research is largely automated. Analysts shift to judgment, thesis, and the differentiated insight a model can't reach. Coverage broadens because the marginal cost of analyzing one more name drops sharply.

The AI relation: models do the synthesis; humans do the conviction. The output is more coverage, faster, with the human premium concentrated in genuine insight.

Signal: the commodity layer of research is going to zero cost. Value concentrates in differentiated judgment.