How BlackRock Builds Custom Knowledge Apps at Scale — Vaibhav Page & Infant Vasanth, BlackRock
Aug 23, 2025 · 18:47
Infant Vasanth and Vaibhav Page of BlackRock explain how the world's largest asset manager scales custom AI knowledge apps for investment operations using a modular, Kubernetes-native framework. They detail challenges like prompt engineering for complex financial instruments, choosing LLM strategies (RAG, chain-of-thought), and deploying apps with cost control and compliance. Their sandbox lets domain experts rapidly iterate on extraction templates with inter-field dependencies and validations, while the app factory turns definitions into production apps. Key takeaways: invest in prompt engineering for domain experts, educate on LLM strategies, evaluate ROI, and design for human-in-the-loop in regulated environments. The framework compressed app development from eight months to days for use cases like setting up securities after IPOs or stock splits.
