A new chatbot has emerged that could prove helpful to performance measurement and client reporting teams.
Grygo is the chief content officer for FTF & FTF News.
ChatGPT, the well-known chatbot system using artificial intelligence (A.I.) and developed by OpenAI, has crossed paths with the Global Investment Performance Standards, or GIPS, which are the voluntary ethical guidelines for performance measurement and client reporting created and maintained by the CFA Institute, and the ChatGIPS chatbot now exists in the world.
Just to remind you, chatbots use natural language processing to interact in a somewhat human, conversational way with humans to answer questions, compose text, and perform functions intended to make work and life easier.
The ChatGIPS app came to my attention when Patrick Trencansky, CIPM, a senior performance analyst for Diamond Hill, an asset manager based in Columbus, Ohio, mentioned it during an A.I. panel discussion that he was on; the panel was part of our very successful PMCR 2025 conference held last month.
“I have used it several times,” Trencansky tells FTF News. “In my experience, the answers provided were given in the correct context and helpful in answering my questions around the GIPS standards. At times, references to specific sections of the standards are provided, and I found the output to be organized and summarized in a helpful manner.”
I asked him how he found it.
Patrick Trencansky
“Access is through ChatGPT. If you have a login for ChatGPT (even a free version), you should be able to see a section titled ‘Explore GPTs’ in the upper left-hand corner, which has a whole host of different GPTs (Generative Pre-trained Transformers),” Trencansky says. “From there, you can search for what type of GPT you’re looking for, and when I search for GIPS, it comes up with ChatGIPS as an option.”
How useful would chatbots be for performance measurement and client reporting teams?
“As a performance measurement professional, I can definitely see the usefulness of chatbots. There are very important information security considerations to take into account when interacting with chatbots using any proprietary and sensitive data; however, when used properly, the benefits in efficiency and creativity can be immense,” Trencansky says.
“With ChatGIPS in particular, I can see the potential for time savings by being able to ask a question about the GIPS Standards and get a quick summary of the relevant literature instead of having to search through the 100+ pages of the GIPS Standards Handbook, along with any relevant guidance statements. For the more intricate questions, additional research may still be required; however, an A.I. tool like this can be a great first step,” he adds.
ChatGIPS appear to have reinforced Trencansky’s view of A.I.’s role.
“Prior to using ChatGIPS, I already saw the benefits of A.I.-based technology in general and feel it is important for us as both individuals and an industry to explore how we can use these tools in our daily lives. ChatGIPS, in particular, adds another tool to my tool kit with information that is directly relevant to my role. I believe that as professionals are able to see distinct use cases for A.I. and how these tools can benefit them, adoption will continue to increase rapidly, and the overall quality of the tools, along with their output, will constantly improve,” he says.
Mr. Trencansky indicated that Matthew McMaster might be the creator of ChatGIPS. So, I reached out to him, and he is a managing director at Washington, D.C.-based RockCreek, where he is focused on reporting and data across all portfolios. McMaster confirms that he is the ChapGIPS creator and that his chatbot efforts are completely separate from RockCreek and the CFA Institute.
“I created a custom GPT in the OpenAI ChatGPT application focused on GIPS Standards for firms,” he tells me. “The process was straightforward, involving the upload of the latest GIPS Standards handbook and an extract from the CFA Institute’s Q&A website. The GPT uses these documents as its knowledge base and has custom instructions to ensure contextually relevant resources. Thanks to OpenAI’s platform, the process was very simple.”
He created the app for specific reasons.
Matthew McMaster
“As a professional in performance analysis, I often encounter questions about interpreting standards as business conditions change. While the standards effectively outline the requirements, understanding the implications of specific, infrequent changes can be challenging,” McMaster says. “Creating the GPT aimed to provide an initial interpretation or recommendation for these changes and to make the standards more accessible to professionals not directly involved in performance and marketing.”
The CFA Institute’s GIPS source material, “including the standards and Q&A, was obtained from CFA Institute’s online resources, but there was no direct coordination with the CFA Institute,” he notes.
For the moment, ChatGIPS has caused about 50 conversations.
“Unfortunately, I don’t see direct usage information on the platform but can see that the total number of conversations has been limited so far, with fewer than 50 conversations, likely due to its niche use case and availability only on OpenAI’s platform,” McMaster says. “Broader use could be achieved if it were hosted directly by the CFA Institute or made more widely accessible.”
I reached out to CFA Institute officials to get their reactions to the creation of the chatbot. “The GIPS Standards live on our website and are searchable by interested parties to improve their understanding of GIPS,” a CFA spokesperson told me. “We applaud Mr. McMaster for his initiative.”
I asked if the CFA Institute has plans to develop its chatbot app or similar A.I.-based effort for GIPS. “We have developed an internal A.I. tool for such a purpose but have not rolled it out externally,” the spokesperson adds.
As more people engage with ChatGIPS, McMaster will have to sort out how to update, train, and evolve the app. “I haven’t set a specific update schedule yet, but I plan to incorporate the latest standards into the corpus as they are released. Ideally, I would like to collaborate with the CFA Institute to create a more comprehensive tool for all GIPS Standards,” he says.
Well, ChatGIPS is on the institute’s radar, so this story may have legs.
In the meantime, you can find more information about ChatGIPS at https://chatgpt.com/g/g-A1Oc7XgYM-chatgips
If you want to create your own chatbot app, here is a resource that might be useful: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8554397-creating-a-gpt)
Need a Reprint?