They call it “Oljefondet”...

Or the “Oil Fund.”

When Norway struck oil in 1990, it didn’t splurge. It saved—channeling revenue from taxes, drilling rights, and state-owned reserves into a long-term national fund.

The goal? Turn the black gold into generational wealth.

Today, 35 years later, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) is the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund…

Worth about $1.8 trillion.

It holds stakes in over 9,000 public companies across more than 70 countries—Apple, Google, Tesla, the works.

For years, NBIM moved like a glacier…

Slow, steady, and very, very government.

But in 2020, Nicolai Tangen—a former hedge fund manager—took the helm and started flipping desks: out with the paper-pushing, in with the bleeding-edge tech.

Then, in 2023—after the fund suffered its second-largest annual loss ever in 2022—he did something that got Wall Street’s attention: he treated AI not as a tool, but as a requirement for survival.

He Made AI Mandatory

Not as a suggestion. Not as a pilot program.

Mandatory.

As in: “If you don’t use AI, you don’t get promoted. You don’t even get hired. You might get fired.”

Since then, NBIM has used Claude’s Financial Analyst Solution—plugging it into tools like Snowflake, FactSet, Pitchbook, and more—to slash trading costs, spot investor bias, and streamline operations.

According to Tangen, adding AI into the workflows boosted NBIM’s efficiency by around 20% and saved them boatloads annually.

This includes:

• 213,000 hours of labor annually (that’s 100 full-time employees working 40 hours/week)

• $100 million in trading fees by optimizing every trade

• 49 million transactions reviewed and improved

AI didn’t just automate tedious work. It transformed how decisions get made.

AI says:

• “Here’s what the data shows.”

• “Here’s what your gut might be getting wrong.”

• “And by the way, you’re about to make the same mistake you made last October.”

NBIM isn’t a startup.

They’re not some tech bro selling yield-bearing alpacas on the blockchain. They’re a 660-person government-backed fund with more red tape than a hostage negotiation.

If they can do this, so can anyone.

And so will everyone.

“Use AI or Lose Your Edge”

NBIM didn’t adopt AI to be trendy.

They did it because slow decision-making is now a liability—and speed, precision, and adaptability are the new alpha.

Sure, they’re using advanced tools, but…

You don’t need to run a $1.8 trillion fund to get started.

Similar capabilities that once required an analyst team and six-figure software are now either $20/month or even free.

For investors, the signal is loud and clear: AI is already reshaping the economic map—and not where most people are looking.

As usual, while the media’s busy debating AI edge-cases, Paradigm’s busy hunting for the biggest investment opportunities on the planet.

Stay tuned.