Imagine having an AI assistant that could sift through mountains of financial data and whisper profitable stock trading signals in your ear. That's the tantalizing promise of a new research paper exploring how generative AI, specifically GPT-4, can be used for semi-automated feature engineering in the alpha research process. Alpha, the holy grail of investing, represents returns that exceed a benchmark, and finding it requires identifying predictive signals. Traditionally, discovering these signals has been a painstaking manual process relying on human intuition and complex algorithms. This new research proposes a revolutionary approach: using the power of GPT-4 to automatically generate these alpha-predicting signals. The researchers prompted GPT-4 with definitions of existing financial signals, historical stock data, and company returns. Instead of simply combining existing signals, GPT-4 generated novel, non-linear formulas, demonstrating a creative spark that goes beyond traditional methods. For example, it created an 'Investment Quality Score' that combines profitability, valuation, and growth metrics in a unique way. Testing these new signals against S&P 500 companies in various sectors, the researchers found promising results. These AI-generated signals often outperformed existing ones, exhibiting stronger correlations with future returns and improving the accuracy of predictive models. The results suggest that generative AI could transform the alpha research process, making it faster, more efficient, and potentially more profitable. However, the research also highlights challenges. While GPT-4 showed remarkable creativity, evaluating the robustness and reliability of these AI-generated signals requires further investigation. Could these signals hold up in real-world market conditions? More research is needed to understand their long-term performance and potential risks. This research opens exciting new avenues for AI in finance, hinting at a future where intelligent algorithms could play a crucial role in investment strategies.