“If computing power and data generation keep growing at the current rate,” says Luke Ellis of UK based Man Group Plc, “then machine learning could be involved in 99 percent of investment management in 25 years.” This according to an article in Bloomberg.

Some major money managers are on the AI bandwagon, the article reports, citing Two Sigma and Goldman Sachs Group as firms that have adopted AI as a “cornerstone strategy or research tool.” It cites research that reveals a potentially severe human toll from the trend: “90,000 jobs in asset management, including fund managers, analysts and back-office staff, out of 300,000 worldwide will go poof by 2025 because of AI, according to estimates by consultancy Opimas from a survey of financial firms.”

But machine learning strategies can be hard for investors to wrap their heads around, according to the article, and high costs associated with the technology can be a burden to firms grappling with the outflow of funds to index strategies. That said, the article points out, “machine learning is showing it can get ahead of the passive wave and exploit patterns in markets that haven’t been discovered, almost becoming a superior version of smart beta.”