35. Part I - What is A.I., and What Does It Mean for the WRS and Its Participants? (Dec. 3, 2025)

Public pension systems have always balanced two big priorities: delivering secure retirements to members and safeguarding assets for the long term. Now, artificial intelligence, or AI, is entering the picture. Some funds are already experimenting with generative AI to sift through mountains of unstructured data in seconds. Others are deploying chatbots to handle routine questions, and many are grappling with governance, ethics, and transparency in these powerful new tools. In this first of two new episodes of The SWIB Podcast, Cefe Quesada, SWIB’s chief technology officer, and Salah Khalaf, senior portfolio manager, discuss what’s working, what’s next, and how public pension funds can embrace AI while keeping transparency and performance front and center and helping the WRS remain fully funded and well-positioned to deliver on its promise to over 692,000 participants.