Mathematician and hedge fund manager Jim Simons is a legend in the capital markets, and his bet on artificial intelligence (AI) is one that investors should follow closely. Simons runs Renaissance Technologies, one of the most storied hedge funds with a successful track record to boot, and also a family office that doubled down on artificial intelligence. "The investment firm for one of the world's biggest computerized trading fortunes is expanding its holdings in machine learning," a Bloomberg article says. "Euclidean Capital -- Jim Simons's family office -- has invested in at least six companies since the start of 2020 that focus on artificial intelligence, spanning health care, customer services and aviation, according to data compiled by Bloomberg." The investment in AI is hardly a surprise.

As part of its initiative to bring greater efficiency and transparency to alternatives asset servicing, Northern Trust has launched a feature within its Front Office Solutions platform that utilizes machine learning to empower sophisticated asset allocators with better oversight of their research process. Each month, asset allocators for endowments, foundations, family offices and other institutions receive thousands of files including newsletters, fund statements, quarterly updates, and legal documents that are manually filed for investment manager research purposes. The new feature leverages knowledge of a user's past behavior to tag research management documents with intelligently suggested attributes before uploading them to the Front Office Solutions platform. Emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, blockchain and cloud technology have allowed a higher level of automation in alternative investments such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure, which have traditionally required complex, manual processing. Northern Trust previously announced document procurement and document digitization solutions to provide more efficiency and improved oversight for asset owners investing in alternatives.

So far, most applications of blockchain technology have been solutions looking for problems. That's not to say there haven't been some really exciting use cases like Othera or Data Gumbo. It's just that so much garbage has been created alongside these gems of hope. ICOs, NFTs, and speculative cryptocurrencies in general, have created a tremendous amount of noise that serious investors need to peer through in order to find anything of substance. When a $4.2 billion company runs their entire business around monitoring crypto transactions to thwart ransomware attacks, one wonders if the value being created offsets all the collateral damage.

Converging forces have catapulted artificial intelligence (AI) into the mainstream with such a profound impact that it's been touted as the next biggest disruptive force in global business. The AI revolution is not in its infancy; in fact, this technology has been around for over 60 years. It has, however, only recently come into its own, disrupting virtually every field of business and even permeating our homes in the form of Siri and Alexa. Still, according to global experts, most of AI's economic impact is yet to come. While AI and robotics are emerging as attractive new investment themes, this should not be where family office interest in these technologies ends.

New York:Thomas Tull scored a blockbuster ending to his Hollywood career. He sold his production company, Legendary Entertainment, to Dalian Wanda Group for $3.8 billion in 2016 after using data analytics for the production, marketing and distribution of blockbusters including "Inception," "The Dark Knight Rises," and "Jurassic World." Tull, 48, is adopting a similar approach with his latest venture. Tulco, based in his adopted hometown of Pittsburgh, is an investment holding company that uses artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics to identify investments and grow the businesses. In a phone interview with Bloomberg, Tull discussed this approach, negotiating tactics and winning a Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Comments have been edited and condensed.

Billionaire Steve Cohen has opened a Palo Alto office to invest in early-stage companies focused on big data and machine learning, and he has hired two people who invested on behalf of the CIA. The two men leading the effort are Daniel Gwak and Sri Chandrasekar, who previously worked at In-Q-Tel, a venture capital firm that is mostly funded by the Central Intelligence Agency. The pair started their new roles on May 1, according to Matthew Granade, Point72's chief market intelligence officer. The new Silicon Valley office is part of Point72 Ventures, Cohen's venture capital unit, which is legally separate from his $11 billion family office, Point72 Asset Management. Cohen launched Point72 Ventures last year, hiring Pete Casella of JPMorgan Chase Strategic Investments to help lead the effort.

Billionaire Steve Cohen has opened a Palo Alto office to invest in early-stage companies focused on big data and machine learning, and he has hired two people who invested on behalf of the CIA. The two men leading the effort are Daniel Gwak and Sri Chandrasekar, who previously worked at In-Q-Tel, a venture capital firm that is mostly funded by the Central Intelligence Agency. The pair started their new roles on May 1, according to Matthew Granade, Point72's chief market intelligence officer. The new Silicon Valley office is part of Point72 Ventures, Cohen's venture capital unit, which is legally separate from his $11 billion family office, Point72 Asset Management. Cohen launched Point72 Ventures last year, hiring Pete Casella of JPMorgan Chase Strategic Investments to help lead the effort.