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Your AI, Not Your View: The Bias of LLMs in Investment Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Hoyoung Lee
  • Junhyuk Seo
  • Suhwan Park
  • Junhyeong Lee
  • Wonbin Ahn
  • Chanyeol Choi
  • Alejandro Lopez-Lira
  • Yongjae Lee

Abstract

In finance, Large Language Models (LLMs) face frequent knowledge conflicts arising from discrepancies between their pre-trained parametric knowledge and real-time market data. These conflicts are especially problematic in real-world investment services, where a model's inherent biases can misalign with institutional objectives, leading to unreliable recommendations. Despite this risk, the intrinsic investment biases of LLMs remain underexplored. We propose an experimental framework to investigate emergent behaviors in such conflict scenarios, offering a quantitative analysis of bias in LLM-based investment analysis. Using hypothetical scenarios with balanced and imbalanced arguments, we extract the latent biases of models and measure their persistence. Our analysis, centered on sector, size, and momentum, reveals distinct, model-specific biases. Across most models, a tendency to prefer technology stocks, large-cap stocks, and contrarian strategies is observed. These foundational biases often escalate into confirmation bias, causing models to cling to initial judgments even when faced with increasing counter-evidence. A public leaderboard benchmarking bias across a broader set of models is available at https://linqalpha.com/leaderboard

Suggested Citation

  • Hoyoung Lee & Junhyuk Seo & Suhwan Park & Junhyeong Lee & Wonbin Ahn & Chanyeol Choi & Alejandro Lopez-Lira & Yongjae Lee, 2025. "Your AI, Not Your View: The Bias of LLMs in Investment Analysis," Papers 2507.20957, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2025.
  • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2507.20957
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Wentao Zhang & Lingxuan Zhao & Haochong Xia & Shuo Sun & Jiaze Sun & Molei Qin & Xinyi Li & Yuqing Zhao & Yilei Zhao & Xinyu Cai & Longtao Zheng & Xinrun Wang & Bo An, 2024. "A Multimodal Foundation Agent for Financial Trading: Tool-Augmented, Diversified, and Generalist," Papers 2402.18485, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2024.
    2. Youngbin Lee & Yejin Kim & Juhyeong Kim & Suin Kim & Yongjae Lee, 2025. "LLM-Enhanced Black-Litterman Portfolio Optimization," Papers 2504.14345, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2025.
    3. Kei Nakagawa & Masanori Hirano & Yugo Fujimoto, 2024. "Evaluating Company-specific Biases in Financial Sentiment Analysis using Large Language Models," Papers 2411.00420, arXiv.org.
    4. Yoontae Hwang & Yaxuan Kong & Stefan Zohren & Yongjae Lee, 2025. "Decision-informed Neural Networks with Large Language Model Integration for Portfolio Optimization," Papers 2502.00828, arXiv.org.
    5. Yichen Luo & Yebo Feng & Jiahua Xu & Paolo Tasca & Yang Liu, 2025. "LLM-Powered Multi-Agent System for Automated Crypto Portfolio Management," Papers 2501.00826, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2025.
    6. Ko, Hyungjin & Lee, Jaewook, 2024. "Can ChatGPT improve investment decisions? From a portfolio management perspective," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Kunihiro Miyazaki & Takanobu Kawahara & Stephen Roberts & Stefan Zohren, 2026. "Toward Expert Investment Teams:A Multi-Agent LLM System with Fine-Grained Trading Tasks," Papers 2602.23330, arXiv.org.
    2. Seung Jung Lee & Anne Lundgaard Hansen, 2025. "Financial Stability Implications of Generative AI: Taming the Animal Spirits," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2025-090, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    3. Anne Lundgaard Hansen & Seung Jung Lee, 2025. "Financial Stability Implications of Generative AI: Taming the Animal Spirits," Papers 2510.01451, arXiv.org.
    4. Fabrizio Dimino & Krati Saxena & Bhaskarjit Sarmah & Stefano Pasquali, 2025. "Uncovering Representation Bias for Investment Decisions in Open-Source Large Language Models," Papers 2510.05702, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2025.
    5. Sean Cao & Wei Jiang & Hui Xu, 2026. "Seeing the Goal, Missing the Truth: Human Accountability for AI Bias," Papers 2602.09504, arXiv.org.
    6. Yaxuan Kong & Hoyoung Lee & Yoontae Hwang & Alejandro Lopez-Lira & Bradford Levy & Dhagash Mehta & Qingsong Wen & Chanyeol Choi & Yongjae Lee & Stefan Zohren, 2026. "Evaluating LLMs in Finance Requires Explicit Bias Consideration," Papers 2602.14233, arXiv.org.

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