Many so-called “quantitative funds” that mine historical data to make trading decisions fared poorly in March, when stocks fell sharply amid coronavirus fears.
The stock market appears strangely indifferent to Covid-19 these days, but that wasn’t true in March, as the scale and breadth of the crisis hit home. By one measure, it was the most volatile month in stock market history; on March 16, the Dow Jones average fell almost 13 percent, its biggest one-day decline since 1987. Read More
Tag Archives: Investing
The great acceleration
The fault lines between industries and business models that we understood intellectually before the COVID-19 crisis have now become giant fissures, separating the old reality from the new one. Just as an earthquake produces a sudden release of pent-up force, the economic shock set off by the pandemic has accelerated and intensified trends that were already underway. The result is a dramatic widening of the gap between those at the top and the bottom of the power curve of economic profit 1 —the winners and losers in the global corporate-performance race. Read More
Facebook built a new fiber-spinning robot to make internet service cheaper
The robot’s code name is Bombyx, which is Latin for silkworm, and pilot tests with the machine begin next year.
The robot rests delicately atop a power line, balanced high above the ground, almost as if it’s floating. Like a short, stocky tightrope walker, it gradually makes its way forward, leaving a string of cable in its wake. When it comes to a pole, it gracefully elevates its body to pass the roadblock and keep chugging along. Read More
AI 50: America’s Most Promising Artificial Intelligence Companies
Artificial intelligence is beginning to be usefully deployed in almost every industry from customer call centers and finance to drug research. Yet the field is also plagued by relentless hype, opaque jargon and esoteric technology making it difficult for outsiders identify the most interesting companies.
To cut through the spin, Forbes partnered with venture firms Sequoia Capital and Meritech Capital to create our second annual AI 50, a list of private, U.S.-based companies that are using artificial intelligence in meaningful business-oriented ways. Read More
Building AI Trading Systems
About two years ago I wrote a little piece about applying Reinforcement Learning to the markets. A few people asked me what became of it. So this post covers some high-level things I’ve learned. It’s more of a rant than an organized post, really. If there is enough interest in this topic I’d be happy to go into more technical detail in future posts, but that’s TBD. Please let me know in the comments or on Twitter.
Over the past few years I’ve built four and a half trading systems. The first one was crap. The second one I never finished because I realized early on that it could never work either. The third one was abandoned for personal and political reasons. The fourth one worked extremely well for 12-18 months, producing something on the order of a full-time salary with a tiny investment of a few thousands dollars. Then, profits started decreasing and I decided to move on to other things. I lacked the motivation to build yet another system. Some of the systems I worked on were for the financial markets, but the last one was applied to the crypto markets. So keep that in mind while reading. Read More
The Tetris Opportunity For Services As Software Companies
A while back I wrote a piece on the Services-As-Software business model for AI, where you take a workflow that is largely human today, keep the same user interface, but replace the rest of the workflow with automation. Today I want to explain why the first companies to adopt services-as-software models will end up dominating multiple markets — sometimes unrelated ones.
There are two pieces to understanding this opportunity. First, it exists because every AI company I am invested in that is working with a services-as-software business model is struggling with the same question — should they provide their services to other businesses? Or should they be full stack and compete with the other market players, or both? Read More
How exactly do you identify an AI start-up?
Everyone wants to be an ‘AI start-up’ – but only when it suits them! So, how exactly do you build (and identify) an AI start-up? Read More
Defining The Services-As-Software Business Model For AI
My angel investment in Botkeeper has been one of the most influential in my thinking on how AI strategy is evolving. When new high impact technologies come along, they often shake up status quo business models and because no one understands what business models might emerge on the other side, it’s a wonderful time to make a few bets on some startups. As an investor, these initial bets help me learn how the space is evolving, which means when the real wave of startups comes that are embracing this new tech, I’m much more educated than most people who sat out the initial round. And on top of that, sometimes you get lucky on the early bets too. Read More
#strategy, #investingThe VC’s Guide to Machine Learning
“Artificial Intelligence began with an ancient wish to forge the Gods.”
In the singular words of Pamela McCorduck, Artificial Intelligence or AI stems from our desire to “forge the Gods”, a concept that has been around for thousands of years. Read More
Defining The Services-As-Software Business Model For AI
My angel investment in Botkeeper has been one of the most influential in my thinking on how AI strategy is evolving. When new high impact technologies come along, they often shake up status quo business models and because no one understands what business models might emerge on the other side, it’s a wonderful time to make a few bets on some startups. As an investor, these initial bets help me learn how the space is evolving, which means when the real wave of startups comes that are embracing this new tech, I’m much more educated than most people who sat out the initial round. And on top of that, sometimes you get lucky on the early bets too. Read More
Rick's Cafe AI 