Author(s): Scott Patterson

Business

A chilling look at the rise of artificial intelligence in the financial markets.

In Dark Pools, "Wall Street Journal" reporter Scott Patterson tells the story of the group of whizzkids who applied their computer programming genius to the invention of 'robot versions of Warren Buffett'. As they did so, they created a radically new trading system in which machines trade anonymously with other machines, making and losing fortunes in the blink of an eye. This state-of-the-art technology has transformed the financial markets, but it has also raised some disturbing questions. If computers are trading with each other, does that mean that people have lost control? How can this system be monitored, let alone regulated? And if it all comes crashing down, whose fault will it be?

Pacy, fascinating and revealing, Dark Pools takes the lid off the new-look financial markets and comes to some chilling conclusions.