Artificial Intelligence - Hype or The Real Deal - Investment Cache

Artificial intelligence (AI) gained unprecedented attention within the hedge fund community in recent years. However, AI is not some new kid on the block. In fact, its roots go as far back as the 1940s when Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts first introduced the neural network. Today, it finds widespread use in applications from identifying images, speech, natural language processing to robotics and more. Similarly, the use of AI techniques for trading or investment is not a new idea either. But it was not successful in any big way in the earlier attempts. So why is everyone so excited about using AI for investments again? From my own lens, I attribute this to a confluence of technology advances and changing market dynamics. Our technology have improved by leaps and bounds over the years. My first encounter with a PC was an 8-bit Apple machine with a monochrome CRT monitor running on MS DOS. Then came machines with more powerful Intel processors.