We were delighted to welcome Ben Rogoff, Lead Manager at Polar Capital Technology Trust (PCT:LSE) to the Investor Summit. Ben is a leading authority on Artificial Intelligence and his enthusiasm for AI clearly remains undiminished. He gave a lively presentation on the Main Stage, taking many questions from the floor.
In Ben’s words, “We've never been more excited about a technology moment as we are today, and have been for the last few years since we pivoted our portfolios pretty hard into the AI story. But I think the most important message is this idea of needing to be diversified, needing...
What Ben Rogoff said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
Ben Rogoff, lead manager of the Polar Capital Technology Trust, described himself as an AI maximalist, having pivoted the portfolio heavily into AI over the past few years. He emphasized the need for diversification and nimbleness, noting that volatility is endemic to new technology cycles and that progress often comes with setbacks. Rogoff said the trust is actively managed, with the largest part of the portfolio leaning into AI capital spending. He expressed excitement about frontier labs Anthropic and OpenAI, noting the trust has been in communication with them and expects to do work on their potential IPOs, though he has not seen their full financials. On safety, he argued that regulatory scrutiny reflects a high-quality problem of accelerating model improvement, and that making things safe tends to increase adoption. He dismissed the idea of a US-China AI race being lost, saying the race is good for investment. He estimated the industry is approaching $200 billion in revenues, praised Nvidia's execution, and said he does not believe the sector is in a bubble, though he acknowledged risks of overbuilding.
Key takeaways
Rogoff does not believe the AI sector is in a bubble, arguing most returns have come through earnings, though he acknowledged infrastructure stories can end badly.
The industry is approaching around $200 billion in revenues, a shift from the early years of limited revenue.
Rogoff expects volatility to continue, describing progress as 'two steps forward, one step backward' and warning that 'trees don't grow to the sky.'
The trust has been in communication with Anthropic and OpenAI about their potential IPOs, but Rogoff has not yet seen their full financials.
Rogoff views the US-China AI race as beneficial for investors, saying it keeps the backdrop for AI investment 'relatively benign.'
3:47Where do you stand on guard rails and how can you actually make it safe?
6:15But may America lose the AI race to China in a different way simply because China can produce these agents much more cheaply and therefore get them to the market much more cheaply?
8:52Will there be a global market correction or even a crash because of AI, because of the billions that have been and possibly no returns on it?
Well, you'd have to ask the audience, but I certainly enjoy it and enjoy the opportunity to interface with the retail clients but also advisers and tell the AI story and update people as to the positioning of the trust today.
Well, I hope the key messages were that we've never been more excited about a technology moment as we are today and have been for the last few years since we pivoted our portfolios pretty hard into the AI story. We describe ourselves as AI maximalists. We're trying to think through a sort of or look at the world and the market through an AI lens such that thinking about prospects for companies and for sectors and for sub themes even, how do they live in a world where AI has really delivered what we expect it to. And so the messages are really communicating that, obviously positioning which remains very positively disposed towards the AI story as you'd imagine, obviously updating people with some of the latest developments. It's never a dull moment. We've had some big stuff over the weekend around AI pacing at the frontier.
But I think the most important message is this idea of needing to be diversified, needing to be nimble, needing to consider the risks because in the end, you know, volatility is endemic to new technology cycles. I've seen that a number of times in my life. And we know that the progress of even the winning technologies is often accompanied by a sort of or paced by a two step forward, one step backward. And we've seen the volatility already in the AI story over the last three and a half years. And I think hopefully the audience got from me our excitement but obviously married against this expectation that that volatility is like as it continues.
Well, we're active in the portfolio. You know, we are probably more active than most. I think that just reflects how dynamic the tech sector has always been, but also particularly now where, you know, the largest part of our portfolio is leaning in heavily to the AI story and the capital spending part of that story specifically. You know, we're super excited around, you know, who's doing what at the frontier of model development. We get, you know, goosebumps when we think about what new models are unlocking in terms of capability, but also what that means in terms of market opportunity and what companies benefit, what companies lose, that the ways that these compute clusters and racks are being built is changing all the time. So the investment opportunity is changing all the time. So again, I'm smiling because that makes me very excited.
The answer to that obviously is that we're actively managing the portfolio. We're also very alive and have been for a while now to the risk posed by AI. You know, when a new technology comes along, it begins often as a compliment and then morphs into a substitute as it becomes cheaper and more capable. And so just being alive to where risk may turn up in our portfolios and trying to communicate that as well of course with people.
I can tell you that. Obviously, I can't give investment advice, but we've been in communication with those companies for a while. Super excited by the growth profiles of both of them. I mean, never before in corporate history have either company, have any other company done what either of those companies already achieved and our expectations are that they'll continue to grow, you know, at a very rapid rate. Now, again, we haven't seen their financials in any great detail yet. So yeah, can't give investment advice anyway, but I haven't yet seen their full financials, but we are certainly, you should certainly expect us to be doing the work.
Rogoff, B. (2026, September 30). Polar Capital’s Ben Rogoff remains a committed AI Maximalist, but warns we should expect volatility [Interview transcript]. The Investor Summit. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3036703/
MLA
Ben Rogoff. "Polar Capital’s Ben Rogoff remains a committed AI Maximalist, but warns we should expect volatility." The Investor Summit, 30 Sep. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3036703/.
BibTeX
@misc{rogoff2026_3036703,
author = {Ben Rogoff},
title = {Polar Capital’s Ben Rogoff remains a committed AI Maximalist, but warns we should expect volatility},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, The Investor Summit. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {sep},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3036703/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
