- Joined
- 12/16/14
- Messages
- 22
- Points
- 13
From "The Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of Mass Unemployment" by Martin Ford
"By some estimates, automated trading algorithms are now responsible for at least a third of transactions in the UK. However, in the US the proportion is much higher, with some estimates putting it at 70 percent. These sophisticated robotic traders—many of which are powered by techniques on the frontier of artificial intelligence research—go far beyond simply executing routine trades. They attempt to profit by detecting and then snapping up shares in front of huge transactions initiated by mutual funds and pension managers. They seek to deceive other algorithms by inundating the system with decoy bids that are then withdrawn within tiny fractions of a second. In the US, both Bloomberg and Dow News Service offer special machine-readable products designed to feed the algorithms’ voracious appetites for financial news that they can—perhaps within milliseconds—turn into profitable trades. The news services also provide real-time metrics that let the machines see which items are attracting the most attention. 44 Twitter, Facebook, and the blogosphere are likewise all fodder for these competing algorithms. In a 2013 paper published in the scientific journal Nature, a group of physicists studied global financial markets and identified “an emerging ecology of competitive machines featuring ‘crowds’ of predatory algorithms,” and suggested that robotic trading had progressed beyond the control—and even comprehension—of the humans who designed the systems. 45"
With this in mind, and with the trend set to continue if this is accurate, what are the implications for future employment in the industry? Aside from investor realations (sales), where are the humans most likely to be in demand?
"By some estimates, automated trading algorithms are now responsible for at least a third of transactions in the UK. However, in the US the proportion is much higher, with some estimates putting it at 70 percent. These sophisticated robotic traders—many of which are powered by techniques on the frontier of artificial intelligence research—go far beyond simply executing routine trades. They attempt to profit by detecting and then snapping up shares in front of huge transactions initiated by mutual funds and pension managers. They seek to deceive other algorithms by inundating the system with decoy bids that are then withdrawn within tiny fractions of a second. In the US, both Bloomberg and Dow News Service offer special machine-readable products designed to feed the algorithms’ voracious appetites for financial news that they can—perhaps within milliseconds—turn into profitable trades. The news services also provide real-time metrics that let the machines see which items are attracting the most attention. 44 Twitter, Facebook, and the blogosphere are likewise all fodder for these competing algorithms. In a 2013 paper published in the scientific journal Nature, a group of physicists studied global financial markets and identified “an emerging ecology of competitive machines featuring ‘crowds’ of predatory algorithms,” and suggested that robotic trading had progressed beyond the control—and even comprehension—of the humans who designed the systems. 45"
With this in mind, and with the trend set to continue if this is accurate, what are the implications for future employment in the industry? Aside from investor realations (sales), where are the humans most likely to be in demand?
