AI To Start Trading Tests In Canada, Automation In Wall St. Next?

Artificial intelligence has not yet gotten to a point where it can completely replace humans, but it’s getting close. As proof, Canada is to start testing an AI that can participate in the ETF market. The machine will analyze data and manage investment strategies based on the information it receives. Could this be the start of stockbrokers losing their jobs to automation?

The firm responsible for the test is Horizons ETFs Management, Inc. and it will come in the form of Horizons Active A.I. Global Equity ETF, The Globe and Mail reports. The AI will essentially provide options to investors based on extrapolations from extracted data with regards to stock patterns. According to the firm’s president and co-chief executive officer, Steve Hawkins, this new service is also intended to address investor requests of international asset exposure.

"As ETFs continue to proliferate, we see more investors asking about ETFs that provide exposure to multiple asset classes that go beyond a single sector, country or region; we anticipate this will be another big growth area of product development in the ETF space," Hawkins said. "An ETF driven solely by an A.I. has the advantage of interpreting millions of market data points in seconds, and will make investment decisions free of any human emotion, in the most efficient and effective manner for its portfolio."

As Futurism notes, ETF portfolios are usually managed by human employees in trust companies. By giving the reins to a machine, it would eliminate the need for people to actually handle the portfolios. Of course, the machine itself will still be managed by humans, specifically by Mirae Asset Global Investments.

To put it simply, the AI will be the investment manager and the stock analyst. These two roles are not always mutually exclusive, but a machine certainly wouldn’t have a problem fulfilling both at the same time.