In 2022, global startup investments exceeded US$445 billion, sourced from entities like venture capital (VC) funds, angel investors, and equity crowdfunding. Despite their role in driving innovation, startup investments often fall short of S&P 500 returns. Surprisingly, the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) remains untapped by investors, despite AI's growing sway in financial decision-making. Our empirical analysis predicts the success of 10,000 Israeli startups, utilizing diverse machine learning models. Unlike prior research, we employ the MetaCost algorithm to convert models into cost-sensitive variants, minimizing total cost instead of total error. This innovative approach enables varied costs linked to different prediction errors. Our results underscore that these cost-sensitive machine learning models significantly reduce risk for VC funds and startup investors compared to traditional ones. Furthermore, these models provide investors with a distinct capability to tailor their risk profiles, aligning predictions with their risk appetite. However, while cost-sensitive machine learning reduces risk, it may limit potential gains by predicting fewer successful startups. To address this, we propose methods to enhance successful startup identification, including aggregating outcomes from multiple MetaCost models, particularly advantageous for smaller deal flows. Our research advances AI's role in startup investing, presenting a pivotal tool for investors navigating this domain.
{"title":"Cost-sensitive machine learning to support startup investment decisions","authors":"Ronald Setty, Yuval Elovici, Dafna Schwartz","doi":"10.1002/isaf.1548","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/isaf.1548","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In 2022, global startup investments exceeded US$445 billion, sourced from entities like venture capital (VC) funds, angel investors, and equity crowdfunding. Despite their role in driving innovation, startup investments often fall short of S&P 500 returns. Surprisingly, the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) remains untapped by investors, despite AI's growing sway in financial decision-making. Our empirical analysis predicts the success of 10,000 Israeli startups, utilizing diverse machine learning models. Unlike prior research, we employ the MetaCost algorithm to convert models into cost-sensitive variants, minimizing total cost instead of total error. This innovative approach enables varied costs linked to different prediction errors. Our results underscore that these cost-sensitive machine learning models significantly reduce risk for VC funds and startup investors compared to traditional ones. Furthermore, these models provide investors with a distinct capability to tailor their risk profiles, aligning predictions with their risk appetite. However, while cost-sensitive machine learning reduces risk, it may limit potential gains by predicting fewer successful startups. To address this, we propose methods to enhance successful startup identification, including aggregating outcomes from multiple MetaCost models, particularly advantageous for smaller deal flows. Our research advances AI's role in startup investing, presenting a pivotal tool for investors navigating this domain.</p>","PeriodicalId":53473,"journal":{"name":"Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/isaf.1548","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139732302","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
There has been substantial discussion aimed at investigating the extent to which academic researchers can or should “use” large language models, such as ChatGPT and Bard, in their research papers. However, there seems to have been limited attention given to the extent to which students can use these tools for the development of theses, proposals and dissertations. This paper pushes the arguments from focusing on academic researchers, journal papers, and technical meetings to considering those theses and dissertations, raising several questions and concerns. Ultimately, university policies need to address these issues, but if publisher and editor responses and alternative business uses are a signal of that direction, consensus may be difficult to achieve.
{"title":"Using large language models to write theses and dissertations","authors":"Daniel E. O'Leary","doi":"10.1002/isaf.1547","DOIUrl":"10.1002/isaf.1547","url":null,"abstract":"<p>There has been substantial discussion aimed at investigating the extent to which academic researchers can or should “use” large language models, such as ChatGPT and Bard, in their research papers. However, there seems to have been limited attention given to the extent to which students can use these tools for the development of theses, proposals and dissertations. This paper pushes the arguments from focusing on academic researchers, journal papers, and technical meetings to considering those theses and dissertations, raising several questions and concerns. Ultimately, university policies need to address these issues, but if publisher and editor responses and alternative business uses are a signal of that direction, consensus may be difficult to achieve.</p>","PeriodicalId":53473,"journal":{"name":"Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management","volume":"30 4","pages":"228-234"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/isaf.1547","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138822612","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}