Mediaphotos | Getty ImagesFor humans to pass the prestigious, three-part chartered financial analyst exam, it typically takes around 1,000 hours of studying over the course of several years.
New re found that the nology underpinning a slew of artificial intelligence models is now advanced enough to pass even the most difficult – Level III – mock exams in a matter of minutes.The new study – developed by reers from New York University Stern School of and GoodFin, an AI-powered wealth-management platform – evaluated 23 large language models on their ability to answer multiple choice and essay questions on mock CFA Level III exams.
They found frontier reasoning models, including o4-mini, Gemini 2.5 , and Claude Opus, were able to use "chain-of-thought mpting" to successfully pass.Previous re, particularly from two years ago, had found AI could Levels I and II of the exam, but it struggled with Level III, due to the essay questions.
However, the nology has evolved so rapidly that the reers wanted to know whether the models could handle, "specialized, high-stakes analytical reasoning required for fessional financial decision-making." The third CFA exam is primarily focused on portfolio management and wealth planning."I think there's absolutely a future where this nology transforms the industry," said Anna Joo Fee, founder and CEO of GoodFin, which contributed to – but did not pay for – the re.Still, Fee said she does not think the AI will ultimately replace the CFA."There are things context and intent that are hard for the machine to assess right now," Fee said.
"That's where a human shines, in understanding your body language and cues."Don’t miss these insights from CNBC Market track record is flawless when the Fed cuts rates with S&P 500 near record highFed rate cuts will make dividend stocks more appealing for income investors.
Here are a few standoutsBitcoin is forming an inverse head-and-shoulder pattern just with Fed rate cuts on their wayA breakout in this rare earths stock is taking place, according to the charts