Understanding Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Big Data in the Investment Management Industry

Unless you live under a rock, and maybe even if you do, you have heard about artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data. These topics seem to be everywhere recently, but they are also very confusing. Proponents say that AI is a transformative technology that will have a positive effect on all industries, similar to how electricity or the internet revolutionized the way people do business. They go on and on and on about how great it is. But there are also extremely smart people such as Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and Bill Gates who say that this technology poses a fundamental threat to our civilization. What is going on here? Who is right?

My intent with this presentation is to make these topics less confusing by showing you that they aren’t as mysterious as some in the media would have you believe. I think you will be surprised to see that on a practical level they are not as complicated as they seem, and that they have been around for longer than most people realize. In simple, understandable, non-technical terms, we will discuss what Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Big Data actually are, and why they have recently become such popular topics. We will also discuss how contrary to what many think AI is not a panacea, and how countless examples of models that are driven by AI have been wrong. I focus on the investment industry, but we will also discuss other examples in different industries. I hope you enjoy it.