More private credit managers are adopting artificial intelligence tools, according to a new survey from Armentum.

The firm, which surveyed 150 private credit managers, found a 2.2x increase in the number of private credit managers using AI tools — rising from around 20% in 2025 to 50% when surveyed this year.

“That’s a big jump from a year ago,” John Markell, managing partner at Armentum Partners, told Creditflux. “A lot of them are using various tools to sort through their data from like a deal originating, deal sourcing perspective…they’re using AI tools to better target where to go get deals, like better hit rate, higher conversion rates.”

These private credit originators are using the AI tool to sort through their own proprietary data to analyze where the deals came from, which deals they won, and which deals they lost, according to Markell. This can help guide deal sourcing in the future.

In contrast, private credit managers that reported using AI last year largely just relied on ChatGPT to write investment memos, Markell said.

There has also been a large shift in the amount of private credit managers using AI in the underwriting process. Last year, many managers that participated in the survey told Markell that they did not trust the results generated by AI. They found too many mistakes. This year, Armentum found that pretty much all the private credit managers are using some kind of AI for research, and twice as many people use it as part of actual underwriting, Markell said.

“There’s been a marked shift in the trust of AI’s efficacy in that area,” he said. “Now, I’m oversimplifying, but [20%] of them are using it for everything other than the last mile of underwriting.”

This includes the use of AI tools for writing their credit memos, pulling together research, generating tables, and finding data. They can ask the AI tool to even suggest ideas. In contrast, the vast majority of firms in 2025 largely said they did not use any technology, aside from Excel, as part of underwriting, Markell said. A year ago, using AI tools in the underwriting process was considered too risky.

The use of AI and technology tools for loan monitoring and portfolio management, however, largely stayed the same year-over-year. Around half of private credit managers have been using technology or AI tools for monitoring and management of loans, and around 40% have been using tools for portfolio construction and optimization.

While these numbers may seem relatively small, the growth in the actual use of AI tools by private credit originators to 50% is a big deal, according to Markell.

Many technology providers will say they have a large list of private credit manager clients, but that does not guarantee that everyone at these firms actively use new AI tools, Markell explained. Many of the private credit originators say they are in the process of learning how to use the AI tools, others already find the AI tool to be very useful, and on the extreme end, some say that they do not quite understand how the AI tool they are using will be helpful yet. The most common scenario has been that the firm’s tech team has implemented AI tools for the private credit manager, but the originators are still experimenting with it, Markell said.

Many private credit managers are doing demos with various software technology companies, and they are sorting out how to best find efficiencies from these tools, he explained.

Private credit managers are finding that AI can expedite the execution of rote tasks and that it can be a very helpful administrative tool, Markell said.

“The [credit] memo can be done in hours versus a week,” he said.