Beyond that, things don't look so good, but the computer continues its four-and-a-half-year love affair with international investing, according to Mr. Mehrotra, who dutifully follows the lead of the Asset Allocation Neural Network, AANN. "I used to second-guess her, but I was wrong nine out of 10 times," he said. The use of artificial intelligence, also known as neural networks or genetic algorithms, has been described by some as the second generation of quantitative investing because it has the flexibility to get smarter through the expansion of input data. The technology, which has been in place for more than a decade at Legend Advisory and is quietly spreading throughout the money management industry, also has wide applications for use in science and medical technology. It was an artificial-intelligence program that enabled IBM's Deep Blue computer to defeat chess champion Gary Kasparov in 1997.

Computer mastery of the complex board game Go has long been seen as a landmark for artificial intelligence. A mystery player causing a stir in the world of the complex strategy game Go has been revealed as an updated version of AlphaGo, the artificial-intelligence program created by Google's London-based AI firm, DeepMind. Known only by the name "Master (P)", since late December the anonymous player has beaten the world's best at Go in a string of online games, including defeating current world number one, 19-year old Ke Jie. South Korea trumpets $860-million AI fund after AlphaGo'shock' Go is regarded as the most complex board game ever invented, and famously difficult for computers to crack. But last year, AlphaGo showcased the strength of AI software when it stunned the Go world first by defeating a professional human player, Fan Hui, and then going on to beat one of the Go world's top players, Lee Sedol.