The Bloomberg Terminal Is Getting an AI Makeover — and Wall Street Traders Are Bitterly Divided

The Bloomberg Terminal has always been an oddity. The orange-and-black screen, the cluttered windows, and the keyboard with its strange biometric button all give the impression that it was created in 1994 and has never been updated. They are arranged like aquariums on any trading floor in Manhattan or Canary Wharf, sometimes four to a desk, glowing in the early light before the markets open. No other piece of software in the world may have been able to maintain this level of devotion for as long.

The machine is now receiving artificial intelligence from Bloomberg, and the people who use it on a daily basis can’t quite agree on what to think of it. The new document summarization tool is adored by some traders. Some claim it’s a gimmick. Though this isn’t always the case, there are portfolio managers who are forty years old who have embraced the AI features and analysts who are twenty-six years old who, on principle, won’t use them.

The features themselves aren’t very eye-catching. A 200-page bond prospectus can be summarized by the terminal in roughly thirty seconds. You can ask the CFO about the third-quarter margins in an earnings call transcript, just like you would with a chatbot. When it comes to how it uses the technology, Bloomberg has been cautious, almost cautious, and that caution has become a source of controversy. Ask the younger users why it’s so slow. Ask the older ones why so quickly.

Speaking with those who have worked with these devices for twenty years gives the impression that the terminal isn’t actually software. It’s a process. a muscle memory. In a way, the job is the keyboard shortcuts, the four-letter command codes, and the rhythm of opening a chart and superimposing a yield curve over it. Even with a well-designed interface, introducing a chatbot messes things up. Recently, a seasoned fixed-income trader told a reporter that he would prefer to lose a finger than his Bloomberg muscle memory. This statement may seem absurd until you see him in action.

However, there is a legitimate case for AI. Investment bank junior analysts burn out at startling rates, and a large portion of this burnout is caused by laboriously going through documents that no one ever reads in their entirety. Why wouldn’t you use a tool that can extract pertinent covenant language from a credit agreement in a matter of seconds? Even though executives are more measured in public, Bloomberg appears to agree with this argument based on the speed at which it is being implemented.

It’s still unclear if the AI features will truly transform the terminal or if they will merely cover it like a thin layer of paint. Refinitiv has been working with Microsoft to integrate AI more quickly and forcefully, and this pressure is part of what is currently motivating Bloomberg. The terminal’s unique, irreplaceable blend of data, chat, and ritual—the competitive moat it has enjoyed for forty years—is being put to the test in a manner never seen before.

You get the impression that the terminal will withstand whatever happens as you watch this play out. It has consistently done so. However, those who have built their careers around it will need to pick up new skills, and not all of them want to. In strange ways, Wall Street is sentimental. Most likely, the orange screen will remain orange. Nobody yet knows what the rest are.