Happy New Year!

As we enter 2025, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the key ideas and insights that shaped the last month of 2024.

December was filled with reflections on the future of AI in finance, the power of intelligent workspaces, and OpenBB's incredible global reach since leaving beta.

In this newsletter, I’ve gathered my top posts from the month to inspire fresh perspectives and set the tone for the year ahead.

Let’s dive into these highlights and start 2025 with a spark of innovation!

Today I saw a glimpse of the future

December 18, 2024

My friend Matt, from VanEck, built a backend with data from Coingecko, Velodata, Artemis, CCdata, Glassnode, MSTR Tracker, Telegram and Google - all in OpenBB.

Matt Maximo has been building a backend with data from Coingecko, Velodata, Artemis, CCdata, Glassnode, MSTR Tracker, Telegram and Google.

However, he didn't find the best product where he could:

1. Bring all this data into one interface

2. Leverage an intelligence layer on top

3. Collaborate with his team on it

Until he did.

With our free tier - Matt was able to single-handedly create almost 50 different data widgets that he (and his team) will be able to access seamlessly on OpenBB.

As we shift to firms being more in control of their data, and with the clear gains from having an additional intelligence layer on top of that data - the need for OpenBB in the market has never been clearer.

Shifting the control back to financial firms.

More open. More adaptable.

If you would like help connecting your own backend (crypto or otherwise) to OpenBB, please contact me and the team.

Why AI analysts need human-like workspaces, not just chat interfaces

December 20, 2024

Why I believe AI agents need the same comprehensive workspace tools as human analysts, moving beyond simple chat interfaces to enable true financial research and analytics.

Last month, Insight Partners published "The State of the AI Agents Ecosystem: The Tech, Use Cases, and Economics" which mentions OpenBB on the map in terms of Financial Services AI agents.

I'd like to explain our flavor of AI analyst.

An AI agent is defined as "a program that can interact with its environment, collect data, and use the data to perform self-determined tasks to meet predetermined goals".

If I were to describe the role of an Analyst I could use that same sentence, except that I wouldn't use "program" but "human".

Yet most companies and products out there are focusing on the data and forgetting about the interface.

If the job to be done by an AI agent is the same as the human agent - why aren't we starting from the assumption that they need the same tools and interface as a human analyst would.

I mean, I don't see financial analysts spending their day doing analysis & research on Slack or a chat-only interface.

This is where we differ and where we decided to take the longer path in doing what's right.

No shortcuts.

Yes, our AI agent (or the one our users bring) has access to their own data.

But more importantly, it is interconnected with a workspace, effectively having the same type of capabilities that an analyst would so it can truly perform research and analytics.

The goal is actually straightforward:

The AI agent should be able to do anything and everything that a user can with a mouse and keyboard.

That includes:

• Extracting insights from multiple datasets

• Adding a particular widget to a dashboard

• Creating a dashboard from scratch based on data available

• Run a particular prediction model with pre-define parameters

• Collaborating on a dashboard with a colleague

• Having access to the internet to add research notes to the dashboard

• Join datasets efficiently

• Write SQL queries to extract particular data from a data warehouse

• etc...

Agree or disagree?

OpenBB and our global reach since leaving beta

December 22, 2024

This is how OpenBB is reaching users worldwide with Chrome's translation features, making financial analytics accessible in multiple languages and expanding our presence across 84% of countries since launch.

Since our launch on October 7th, 2024, we realized that while the majority of our audience is based in the US - we have users utilizing OpenBB from all around the globe.

In fact, if we count sign-ups since October we have a 84% country representation.

Today, most of the top financial firms have reached out to OpenBB to learn more. Either because they heard about us from others, or had someone internally speaking about OpenBB.

However, it has also happened during conversations with firms that focus so much on emerging markets (e.g. LatAm) that they speak mostly Portuguese or Spanish.

So, here I am showing you that you can utilize the Google Translate feature that comes with Google Chrome in under 10 seconds to have our product translated in real-time to your language of choice.

I've been playing with it in Portuguese, and it works surprisingly well.

This even means that you can utilize your AI copilot in your language of choice, which is mind-blowing!

It's this Christmas that I will be able to convert my family to DAU. 😃

AI chatbots won't revolutionize finance, but intelligent workspaces will

December 27, 2024

Why the future of financial analysis isn't about chatbots, but about intelligent workspaces that combine your data, tools, and AI exactly when you need them.

When ChatGPT launched, everyone rushed to build financial chatbots. But they missed two fundamental truths:

• The best AI model is useless without access to your data.

• Access to data isn't enough - AI needs to handle complete workflows, not just conversations.

The limitations of most financial chatbots:

1. They only work on a specific dataset (e.g 10-K/10-Q)

2. They can't handle complex financial workflows

3. They force analysts to work in an unnatural chat interface

Here's how OpenBB addresses these challenges:

First, we ensure comprehensive data access:

• Run everything on-premise or in your VPC

• Connect any data source: internal files, APIs, third-party feeds, market data - anything

• Use a universal data layer that standardizes everything (whether it's CSV, Excel, Snowflake, or APIs)

But the real innovation?

We're building AI differently.

Instead of forcing analysts to chat with a bot, we're embedding intelligence directly into their workspace.

Think dashboards with widgets, not chat windows. Data visualization, not text conversations.

This is exactly what Kimberly Tan (partner @ a16z) predicted in her analysis:

The result?

A workspace where:

• AI appears only when needed (for insights, summaries, or generating visualizations)

• Firms can adopt AI at their own pace

• Analysts keep their familiar workflows while gaining AI superpowers

Let me show you this in action.

Last week, I shared how Matt from VanEck built a powerful dashboard integrating multiple distinct data sources on OpenBB.

I only showed a screenshot of this dashboard with data. There was no sign of AI in it.

However, if I had simply pressed the shortcut "Ctrl+L", the copilot window would have opened and I would have been able to natively interact with the data - and generate new data from it.

This demonstrates that the future of financial AI isn't about chatbots - it's about intelligent workspaces.

As Jason from PyQuant News astutely observes:

This isn't just another AI product.

It's the future of financial analysis - where AI enhances your workspace instead of replacing it.

If you want to discuss some of these ideas further or just catch up for a coffee in the new year, reach out to me on X, LinkedIn, or by email!