Robo traders not so different from us, says Man AHL risk chief

Watching over machine learning algorithms is similar to monitoring human portfolio managers

Critics have painted machine learning algorithms as potential rogue cyborgs in tomorrow’s financial markets: near-impossible to understand, likely to act destructively, perhaps one day a threat to market order.

But one risk manager with a long track record of overseeing them says machine learning-based robot traders are not so different from their human cousins. You just have to get to know them a bit.

As chief risk officer for Man Group’s systematic investment division AHL and its Man