Enhancing Investor Engagement with AI-Summarized Disclosures

We conduct a field experiment where we provide investors with an AI-generated summary of annual reports during virtual conference calls. We find that providing investors with annual report summaries increases investor participation during the calls. Specifically, treatment firms with AI-generated summaries experience a 46% increase in the number of investor questions, relative to control firms. Moreover, the content of investors' questions directed toward the treatment firms is more aligned with the topics presented in the summaries; the treatment firms’ questions are more likely to come from less experienced investors; and treatment firms’ management provides longer and more detailed answers. The findings suggest that AI-generated summaries can lead to greater investor engagement by providing investors with focal points for more vibrant conversations with management.