The $10B Hedge Fund CEO Who’s Betting Big on AI | Will England, Walleye Capital
May 14, 2025
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Will England, CEO and managing partner of Walleye Capital, a $10B hedge fund, dives deep into integrating AI into finance. He shares his bold move to make AI an essential part of operations, treating it like email. With 75% of his team using ChatGPT daily, he highlights how AI drives decision-making and journaling. Will discusses balancing AI efficiency with human critical thinking in writing, and the innovative 'data lake' concept for smarter organizational decisions, all while emphasizing the responsibility that comes with leveraging AI.
Will England frames the adoption of AI as essential for competitive advantage, likening the decision to embrace it to early internet adoption.
Effective leadership in AI requires a commitment to foster responsibility and adaptation across all organizational levels, ensuring everyone engages with AI initiatives.
Building a culture around AI includes encouraging continuous learning and collaboration to demystify its tools and alleviate fears regarding job displacement.
Deep dives
Embracing AI for Competitive Advantage
Using AI tools in the workplace is essential for maintaining a competitive edge in today's fast-paced environment. A CEO highlighted that opting not to utilize AI is akin to disregarding the internet in its early days, as it leads to missed opportunities and inefficiencies. By fostering a culture that embraces AI, organizations can enhance productivity, decision-making speed, and overall effectiveness. The speaker encourages staff to be proud of using AI, framing it as a means to work smarter rather than harder.
Leadership and Responsibility in AI Adoption
Effective leadership in the AI landscape necessitates a strong sense of responsibility towards employees and investors. The CEO emphasizes the importance of leading by example and instilling a serious commitment to AI across all organizational levels. He articulates the belief that failing to adapt to AI advancements would be irresponsible, not just for the company, but for the industry as a whole. By personally endorsing AI training initiatives, the leader aims to prepare both current and future employees for evolving job expectations.
Fostering a Culture of Continuous Learning
Building a culture around AI involves creating opportunities for continuous learning and embracing experimentation. Weekly meetups and internal competitions encourage staff to share experiences and discover new AI applications. This approach helps demystify AI tools, making them more accessible to all employees, regardless of technical background. Moreover, the initiative aims to reduce anxiety surrounding AI's impact on jobs by promoting collaboration and skill development rather than fear of replacement.
Integrating AI into Data Strategies
The effective use of AI requires a well-structured data strategy that encompasses the collection, processing, and analysis of information. The CEO discusses how implementing AI tools has already transformed workflows, particularly in quantitative trading, by providing faster access to insights derived from vast amounts of data. By creating internal systems that incorporate AI with collaborative data, firms can streamline communications and improve decision-making processes. The integration of AI aids in synthesizing information efficiently, enabling faster responsiveness to market changes.
The Role of Historical Context in Shaping AI Strategy
Drawing parallels between past technological revolutions and the current AI evolution, the CEO highlights the need to recognize historical patterns in predicting future trends. Understanding prior instances of disruption, such as those during the post-Civil War era, can guide firms in navigating the AI landscape. He underscores that despite the unpredictability of the future, embracing change and being prepared to adapt are crucial for success. Incorporating historical insights into decision-making allows leaders to remain agile while leveraging AI to push boundaries.
Will England just pivoted his $10B AUM hedge fund to go all in on AI with a firm-wide email:
“I wrote this email using ChatGPT—you should too. As a hedge fund, we should be ashamed to leave money on the table by ignoring AI.”
It’s working: 75% of his 400-person team are using ChatGPT daily—and Walleye is well on its way to transforming into an AI-first juggernaut. They record every meeting, use LLMs to ingest and analyze earnings reports, and are building “The Borg”—a firmwide intelligence layer.
What’s surprising? Will isn’t some AI hype man: He’s the CEO, CIO, and managing partner of Walleye Capital, a multi-strategy hedge fund competing with firms like Citadel, Millenium, and Point72. He’s Princeton and Oxford educated, but he’s based in Minnesota, doesn’t have an X account, and rarely gives interviews.
In my experience, teams go as their CEO goes—and Will is the best example of a CEO going all in on AI that I’ve seen. "It would be irresponsible not to go after AI with maximum discipline and intensity," Will told me—and in this episode he lays out his exact playbook for doing it.
We get into:
Why AI is essential operating leverage. At Walleye, using AI is treated like using email or Excel. Ignoring it means getting left behind—in an industry where information = money, every edge counts. England makes this not optional for anyone, backed by internal leaderboards and cash incentives.
How Will uses AI for journaling and decision-making. Will journals every day using ChatGPT, which helps him with everything from decision-making at work to reflecting on his family life to tracking his workouts.
How Will pivoted his billion dollar firm. Will’s commitment to AI isn’t theoretical—he announced AI as the new standard for work at Walleye, and made avoiding it unacceptable.
How to lead during times of technological change. Will leads with an ethic of personal responsibility: "If we get disrupted by AI, that's on me.”
Why students of history do better at handling the future. Will sees today like the 1860s–1910s era—when the Industrial Revolution introduced factories and railroads and the skills and roles needed inside of companies transformed quickly.
How Will uses AI to write faster. Will uses ChatGPT to help him draft emails or memos that would have taken hours in 15 minutes. He bullets out of his thoughts and then uses LLMs to turn that into polished prose. Having AI handle the linguistic syntax gives him more time for conceptual thinking.
This is a must-watch for anyone who wants to lead a team through change with clarity and conviction.
