Generative AI is a type of computer technology that can create new content, like text, images, or music, on its own. It’s important because it can produce realistic and useful material quickly, which could change how we create art, write stories, or even develop new products. Think of it as a smart robot that can invent and produce things almost like a human.
machine learningtechnical
Machine learning is a set of computer programs that learn patterns from large amounts of data and improve their predictions or decisions over time, like a recipe that gets better each time it’s adjusted based on taste tests. For investors it matters because these systems can speed up analysis, spot trends or risks humans might miss, automate routine work, and potentially create competitive advantages or cost savings that affect a company’s performance.
natural language processingtechnical
Natural language processing is a technology that enables computers to understand, interpret, and respond to human language in a meaningful way. It allows machines to analyze large amounts of text, like news articles or social media posts, to identify patterns, trends, or sentiment. For investors, this means gaining faster insights from vast information sources, helping to inform smarter decisions in a rapidly changing world.
computer visiontechnical
Computer vision is technology that gives machines the ability to 'see' and make sense of images or video, turning pixels into usable information like object counts, measurements, or activity patterns. For investors, it matters because it enables automation, cost reduction and new product features across industries—from quality checks on factory lines to retail analytics—so companies that adopt effective computer vision can boost efficiency, reduce labor needs and create competitive advantages.
agentic aitechnical
Agentic AI refers to computer systems that can make their own decisions and take actions without needing someone to tell them what to do each time. It's like giving a robot a degree of independence to solve problems or achieve goals on its own, which matters because it could change how we work and interact with technology in everyday life.
private marketsfinancial
Private markets are places where investors buy and sell ownership in companies, debt, or assets that are not listed on public stock exchanges — think direct stakes in a start-up, private company, real estate project, or loan. They matter to investors because these deals can offer higher potential returns and diversification but come with less transparency, limited ability to sell quickly, and more uncertainty, like owning a whole house versus trading shares of a real estate fund.
benchmarkfinancial
A benchmark is a standard or yardstick—usually a market index, interest rate, or agreed performance target—used to measure how well an investment, portfolio, or fund is doing. It matters to investors because comparing returns against that benchmark shows whether a manager is adding value or simply matching market movements; like comparing a car’s mileage to an average, beating the benchmark suggests better performance while lagging suggests underperformance or higher costs.
indexfinancial
An index is a single number that tracks the combined performance of a group of stocks, bonds or other assets, acting like a market scorecard or thermometer for a particular industry, country or investment style. Investors use indexes to judge how a market or sector is doing, compare fund managers, and build or measure portfolios, since many funds aim to match or beat an index’s return.
New perpetual benchmark tracks the performance of pure-play private companies driving GenAI innovation across the corporate lifecycle.
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment insights, today announced the Morningstar PitchBook GenAI 20 Index. This first-of-its-kind benchmark is designed to deliver exposure to pure-play GenAI companies, tracking eligible names throughout their entire lifecycle as they transition from private markets through public listing.
As generative AI reshapes productivity, business models, and competitive dynamics across the global economy, many companies driving its most significant breakthroughs remain private and unrepresented in traditional market benchmarks. The Morningstar PitchBook GenAI 20 Index addresses this gap by providing targeted, rules-based exposure to the world’s leading pure-play generative AI innovators.
The index is built on a perpetual structure that tracks companies continuously across the private-to-public lifecycle. By preserving continuity of exposure, it provides a durable and consistent framework for measuring, comparing, and analyzing GenAI leadership as the market evolves.
Sanjay Arya – Head of Innovation, Morningstar Indexes:
“Staying at the forefront of innovation in generative AI requires a clear view of opportunities across both public and private markets. As private markets play an increasingly critical role in technology development, having transparent and measurable benchmarks is essential. We believe this new index helps provide clarity to one of the most important growth themes of the next decade.”
The Morningstar PitchBook GenAI 20 Index draws on the global private markets data and expertise of PitchBook, a Morningstar company, to identify companies advancing core technologies like machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, and agentic AI through a robust and consistent classification framework.
Dimitri Zabelin, Senior Investment Research Analyst, AI & Cybersecurity, PitchBook:
“GenAI represents a fundamental shift in how software is built, deployed, and scaled across the global economy. Unlike prior waves of innovation, its horizontal nature allows core generative models to influence nearly every sector simultaneously, reshaping workflows, products, and decision-making at unprecedented speed. As this transformation accelerates, the companies advancing foundational GenAI capabilities are increasingly central to how value is created in the technology ecosystem. Understanding how this layer evolves, consolidates, and scales is essential to interpreting the next phase of technological change.”
Morningstar has introduced several new and enhanced investor tools to navigate the convergence of public and private markets in recent years, including expanded coverage of private companies and semiliquid funds from Morningstar Manager Research, standardized categories and metrics from Morningstar Direct, differentiated benchmarks from Morningstar Indexes, and unified workflow tools from PitchBook, like its best-in-class private markets reference data and analytics suite.
About Morningstar Indexes
As the fastest-growing global index provider for the last five years according to Burton-Taylor International Consulting, Morningstar Indexes was built to keep up with the evolving needs of investors—and to be a leading-edge advocate for them. Morningstar's rich heritage as a transparent, investor-focused leader in data and research uniquely equips Morningstar Indexes to support individuals, institutions, wealth managers and advisors in navigating investment opportunities across all major asset classes, styles, and strategies. From assessing risk and return with traditional benchmarks to helping investors effectively incorporate ESG objectives into their investment process, our range of index solutions spans an investment landscape as diverse as investors themselves. We help investors answer today's increasingly complex questions so that they can more easily reach tomorrow's goals. Please visit indexes.morningstar.com for more information.
About Morningstar, Inc.
Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment insights in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The Company offers an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers and owners, retirement plan providers and sponsors, institutional investors in the debt and private capital markets, and alliances and redistributors. Morningstar provides data and research insights on a wide range of investment offerings, including managed investment products, publicly listed companies, private capital markets, debt securities, and real-time global market data. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with approximately $352 billion in AUMA as of June 30, 2025. The Company operates through wholly- or majority-owned subsidiaries in 32 countries. For more information, visit www.morningstar.com/company. Follow Morningstar on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MorningstarInc.
