Harnessing AI as a collaboration partner

Q&A with Guillaume Princen, Head of EMEA, Anthropic.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic is an AI research and development company that creates reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. Anthropic works with leading enterprises and startups globally.    

Anthropic’s flagship product is Claude, a large language model trusted by millions of users worldwide. Guillaume will be speaking at IPEM’s Value Creation Summit on AI's role in transforming investment processes.

IPEM: What is the most misunderstood aspect of value creation in your area of expertise today?

GP: The biggest misconception is that AI only creates value through automation rather than enabling deeper strategic insight.

When GPs assess potential investments or monitor existing holdings, they're often faced with fragmented and siloed information: management presentations, industry reports, and portfolio performance data. True value creation can happen when AI bridges this gap. Claude for Financial Services allows GPs to produce comprehensive due diligence across multiple data providers while maintaining complete audit trails. This means investment professionals focus on decision-making and relationship building to drive value creation.

IPEM: Where are you seeing the biggest gap between boardroom ambition and execution on the ground?

GP: It's about becoming an AI-first organisation, not just an organisation that uses AI. CEOs and CTOs understand AI's transformative potential yet day-to-day teams remain anchored to traditional workflows.

The challenge becomes helping leadership bridge that expertise gap; balancing boardroom ambition with practical implementation support. At Anthropic, we build AI to meet customers' needs. Our Financial Analysis Solution addresses this by making AI adoption feel natural - connecting familiar data sources like PitchBook and Bloomberg with AI capabilities that enhance, rather than replace, existing investment processes.

IPEM: What capability or mindset shift will define the next generation of value creation?

GP: The defining shift is moving from periodic portfolio reviews to continuous intelligence-driven value creation. Traditional private equity operates on quarterly cycles, but the next generation will embed AI-native thinking that identifies operational improvements and market opportunities in real-time across portfolio companies.

This means AI systems that can analyse comparable company performance, track operational metrics across portfolio companies, and generate comprehensive investment committee materials; all while maintaining context and learning from each interaction. Instead of viewing AI as a tool, successful firms will treat it as a core business capability and collaborative partner that handles complex analytical processes independently.

IPEM: If you could embed one question into every due diligence process, what would it be?  

GP: "How can we accelerate due diligence from weeks to days while maintaining institutional-grade accuracy and complete audit trails?” This question outlines the AI-driven competitive advantage that will come to define next-generation investment processes.

Building at the frontier of AI means that we are now addressing this challenge for firms. Claude for Financial Services is the first AI that can read, understand, and connect every piece of financial information a company uses, from Bloomberg terminals to Excel models. Its agentic search and research for due diligence gives industry professionals enhanced speed and accuracy in finding the insights that drive billion-dollar decisions.

IPEM: How do you think the operational value creation playbook might evolve in the coming years?

GP: AI will undoubtedly transform the playbook by empowering investment professionals with tools that enhance how they analyse markets, conduct research, and make investment decisions. The fundamental shift will be toward continuous, data-driven optimisation rather than quarterly reviews. Firms will monitor portfolio performance in real-time and apply insights from one company to accelerate improvements across their entire investment portfolio.