AI-native funds outcompeting human-managed funds on returns and fees
#1AI-native and quantitative hedge funds have structurally outperformed discretionary active management over the past decade, and a new wave of LLM-powered funds launched in 2024-2025 is extending this advantage. Renaissance Technologies' Medallion Fund has generated average annual returns exceeding 60% before fees since 1988 using pure algorithmic trading. Two Sigma's AUM grew to over $60 billion based on machine-learning-driven strategies. More recently, firms like Qube Research & Technologies, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, and Millennium Management have deployed LLM-based fundamental analysis at scale, achieving the returns of discretionary stock-picking with far lower analyst headcount. Institutional allocators (endowments, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds) track this performance data systematically and have been shifting mandates accordingly.