Imagine an intricate network of elastic compute clouds, data centres, rows of quiet office desktop computers running algorithms that communicate with one another engaged in fierce competition or active collaboration. The whole purpose of their existence is to grow stronger, become more resilient and survive in a turbulent, chaotic and at times rather hostile environment. They seem to carry out some distinctly different functions: many of them are workers, warriors, some seem to be silent guardians that protect their environment. Their level of intelligence reminds us of the wonderful animal kingdom that thrives on our beautiful planet. They are of different material, they are a product of higher intelligence but their nature seems to be in harmony with that of the living word. They live, they breed, and they die. Their end is an agent of change and their survival features are passed from one generation to another. Their actions are not prescribed or contained by a single overarching script as they become more complex, graceful and smart in the flux that surrounds them.

Those bubbly algorithms are intelligent agents and their communications are lighting fast resembling firings in a synaptic network. They do not sleep. They protect you and your investors’ wealth. They relentlessly search for those tiny inefficiencies in various markets, sectors, securities and their derivatives to extract the precious alpha and improve your quality of returns. Some of them trade, some of them conduct the research for their masters and peers, others enforce the order and contain the risk by retiring the agents that exhibit abnormal behaviour or violate the rules.

They conduct and participate in large scale simulations, they learn to deal better with boom and bust cycles, slow and fast markets; they seem to pinpoint human cognitive biases that let many market participants sabotage themselves and work around them. All with a high degree of autonomy.

The research is carried out. New ways of asset allocation, rebalancing and trading are distilled, reports prepared, client sentiment is gathered to adjust the risk parameters to protect and increase their wealth and ensure the longevity of the Fund.

A philosopher would say a new form life has been created. A sceptic would paint a gloomy picture of job losses and failure of the industry as we know it. An optimist would see a tremendous opportunity in expanding our horizons, in focusing on what we do best: projecting our vision, dreaming, inventing new way of doing things backed by our ever-expanding knowledge, experience, intuition and wisdom. We guide the agents, refine their evolutionary path and provide them computational resources; they pay us back with very hard work and new discoveries.

Some old jobs are gone. Exciting new ones are created. This new world of AI is not an aberration, it is just another milestone of this universe on its expansion path. An advanced life form creates another.

No one and nothing seems to be able to prevent this change now. In many respects, it has already happened. Welcome to the brave new world of AI. Don’t be intimidated by it, seize the opportunity.