by Zhang Shidong at scmp.com
A Chinese hedge fund retracted a statement just a day after saying that it planned to use artificial intelligence (AI) to run one of its funds in what would have otherwise been a first in the nation’s 14 trillion yuan (US$2 trillion) industry.
The AI Cybertron, which is named after the home planet of Autobots and Decepticons in the US blockbuster movie Transformers, will be now deployed to help reshape the company’s investment methodology, from evaluation system to trading strategy and risk control, Beijing Zhiyu Zhishan Investment Management said in a statement on its website on Friday. The technology will be used in all the firm’s fund products immediately, it said.
The U-turn came a day after the firm said that it would put Cybertron in the role of a fund manager to take charge of one of its funds sometime in the second half, which would be overseen by general manger He Li.
“After discussion and reflection by our team, we think the true value of Cybertron is to rebuild and integrate Zhiyu Zhishan’s methodology of value-investing rather than trading,” said He in Friday’s statement. “In fact, Cybertron has already done the job of rebuilding and integrating the logic framework of our methodology. So starting today, we will use Cybetron directly in all of our funds to better embrace the AI era.”
Even with this flip-flop, AI is showing signs of permeating into more sophisticated industries that require analysis, judgment and decision-making since the technology sparked a global frenzy after the launch of ChatGPT late last year. China’s stock markets may be ideal to test the ability of AI against human fund managers, as sentiment has turned fragile after the unravelling of the reopening trade, leaving traders with few investment opportunities.
At least three calls made to Zhishan Investment went unanswered.
read more