The $2.2 trillion fund says AI helps it uncover governance and sustainability concerns often missed by data vendors and international media, especially in emerging markets. It has deployed Anthropic’s Claude model to scan more than 7,000 companies for links to forced labor, corruption, and fraud, reshaping how ESG risk is detected and acted upon
Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the largest of its kind in the world, has begun using artificial intelligence to police its own portfolio, deploying a large language model to scan thousands of companies for signs of ethical and reputational risk.
The fund, managed by Norges Bank Investment Management, disclosed in its annual responsible investment report that it is now relying on AI to generate governance and sustainability insights for portfolio managers. The move signals how quickly generative AI systems are being absorbed into the plumbing of global finance, including in corners of the market long associated with human judgment and moral scrutiny.
A spokesperson said the fund’s ESG risk monitoring team began using Anthropic’s Claude model in day to day work in November 2024. Since then, it has become “an important tool in our monitoring of ESG risk across the portfolio.”
The Norwegian fund was established in the 1990s to invest surplus revenues from the country’s oil and gas sector. Today, it owns stakes in more than 7,200 companies across 60 countries, representing roughly 1.5 percent of all publicly listed shares worldwide. Its size, and its history of pushing companies on environmental, social and governance standards, has made it one of the most influential voices in responsible investing.
In its report, the fund said that in 2025 it deployed large language models to screen companies on the first day they entered its equity portfolio.
“These tools help us rapidly scan a wide range of public information that goes beyond what data vendors typically cover,” the report said. “Where risks emerge around key themes, the LLM conducts deeper searches, providing contextual summaries.”
Each day, the system produces AI generated risk assessments for investments made the previous day. According to the report, that allows managers to evaluate potential red flags almost immediately.
“Within 24 hours of our investment, the AI tools flag new companies in the fund’s equity portfolio with potential links to, for example, forced labor, corruption or fraud,” the fund said. “Often, this information has not been captured in international media coverage or data vendor alerts. We always review the information before we make an investment or risk decision. In multiple instances, we identified and sold these investments before the broader market reacted to the risks, avoiding potential losses.”
The fund said the technology has been particularly useful in assessing smaller companies in emerging markets, where coverage may be limited to local language publications and smaller news outlets.
“Artificial intelligence is changing how we work as an investor,” Nicolai Tangen, the chief executive of Norges Bank Investment Management, said in a statement in the report, adding that sustainability and governance “are inseparable from financial performance,” and that “the world will remain complex and uncertain.”
The fund’s total value stands at about $2.2 trillion. In 2025, it reported an annual profit of 2.36 trillion kroner, or $246.9 billion. Nearly 40 percent of its holdings are in American equities. Among its largest positions are a 1.3 percent stake in Nvidia, a 1.2 percent stake in Apple and a 1.3 percent stake in Microsoft. The fund also invests in fixed income, real estate and renewable energy infrastructure.
Its ethical decisions, however, have not always been welcomed abroad.
In September, the U.S. State Department told CNBC it was “very troubled” by the fund’s decision to exit positions in Caterpillar, the American machinery manufacturer, and five Israeli banks, citing what the fund had described as “unacceptable risk” that the companies were contributing to rights violations in Palestinian territories.
A spokesperson said the Caterpillar exit “appears to be based on illegitimate claims against Caterpillar and the Israeli government.”
Norway’s finance minister, Jens Stoltenberg, responded at the time that the divestment was “not a political decision.”
Until November 2025, the executive board of Norges Bank decided whether companies should be excluded from the fund’s portfolio or placed on an observation list, based on recommendations from the Council on Ethics, an independent body appointed by Norway’s Ministry of Finance.
Following last year’s controversy, temporary guidelines were introduced. Under those rules, Norges Bank can no longer decide on new exclusions or observation placements, though it may revoke previous decisions. The Council on Ethics has also been stripped, at least temporarily, of its ability to recommend exclusions or observation while a broader review of the ethical framework is underway.
“The conflict in Gaza and the discussions about the fund’s ethical framework and investments in Israel demonstrated in 2025 how complex and challenging this can be in practice,” Mr. Tangen said in Thursday’s report. “While the fund’s ethical framework is under revision, we continue our responsible investment work, strengthening the link between ownership and investment decisions and focusing on what is financially material.”
The embrace of AI in that process underscores a broader shift in global finance. Tools once marketed as productivity aids are now being entrusted with scanning the moral terrain of markets, searching for early signs of misconduct in a portfolio that touches nearly every corner of the world economy.
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