Given the OpenAI initiative and the explicit intention of "democratizing" AI, it seems they're interested in funding application, not more research.
I think the results seen from deep learning along with recent developments in commodity hardware(GPUs have made major leaps in the past two years) to run them in a reasonable amount of time has kicked off a frenzy. IMO it does seem a little overhyped in the same way the internet was -- its a tool that enables ideas beyond our imagination, so VCs throw money at companies on a dart board hoping one takes off. In the end, the internet was a revolution but it wasn't as quick as everyone thought.
TL;DR - AI is becoming a tool that can be used by anyone.
Facebook's IPO flopped because of a glitch in the nasdaq where orders weren't being filled for hours and then multiple orders were being filled. It was not because investors didn't like the stock
This was a common strategy among pit traders in the 80's to place orders to entice other traders to follow, while a partner would take a large position in the opposite direction. Paul Tudor Jones was infamous for it and even laughed about it on the documentary, "Trader".
It is ethically questionable, but shouldn't be illegal. You shouldn't be managing money if your strategy is to follow bigger fish.
Futures were off bad before the market opened. People look at futures, think the sky is falling, flood the market with sell orders that cannot be filled until market opens, price temporarily crashes, then quants and smart money bring them back.
This is most likely a correction, not a recession. There will be recession in markets that depend on China -- the commodity exporters like Brazil, Russia, Venezuela, etc.
The US economy is actually doing quite well. Stocks are not overvalued, commodities are cheap, jobless rate is going down, and housing is at 2004 levels. Fundamentals suggest the bull market could last at least a few more years, yet cash levels are at their highest since 2009. This correct is a great buying opportunity for anyone who has stood out of the market for the past few years.
> I guess the only difference is that in the West, the money goes mostly to the banks, which distribute it to the companies or invest it in the stock market and real estate. Consequently, the rich get richer and the poor don't see any of this money.
Poor people see it when they can still get loans because the government provides liquidity in the MBS market(specifically, subprime mortgages). Middle/Upper class see it when the government supports bond prices.
The situation in Venezuela is different because they used the state-owned oil producers to balance their deficit. My guess it that now that oil prices have tanked, they are dipping into their cash reserves to pay for the debt accumulated expanding their oil production
I was pretty far into building a platform for investors to buy portfolio insurance, then I read about Vest this morning(http://techcrunch.com/2015/08/18/hardware-demo-day/). It sucks to see I'm not the first, but their website reveals the idea still has a long way to go before normal investors adopt it. Most investors don't feel qualified to pick stocks for their own portfolio, so how will they know what type of insurance they need? What happens when this idea scales and option prices become far more expensive as a result? Option liquidity(or lack thereof) is the reason portfolio insurance in the 80's turned to futures for protection. It's a good idea, but I suspect it will take a few iterations :)
I think the results seen from deep learning along with recent developments in commodity hardware(GPUs have made major leaps in the past two years) to run them in a reasonable amount of time has kicked off a frenzy. IMO it does seem a little overhyped in the same way the internet was -- its a tool that enables ideas beyond our imagination, so VCs throw money at companies on a dart board hoping one takes off. In the end, the internet was a revolution but it wasn't as quick as everyone thought.
TL;DR - AI is becoming a tool that can be used by anyone.