Friday 16 May 2014

ALGORITHM APPOINTED TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS: DO ALGORITHMS GET SHARE OPTIONS?

BBC News reports that a venture capital firm has appointed a computer algorithm to its board of directors. The program, called Vital, will vote on whether to invest in a specific company or not. The firm it will be working for, Deep Knowledge Ventures, focuses on drugs for age-related diseases. It said that Vital would make its recommendations by sifting through large amounts of data. The algorithm looks at a range of data when making decisions - including financial information, clinical trials for particular drugs, intellectual property owned by the firm and previous funding. "On first sight, it looks like a futuristic idea but on reflection it is really a little bit of publicity hype," said Prof Noel Sharkey of the University of Sheffield. "A lot of companies use large data search to access what is happening on the market, then the board or trusted workers can decide on the advice. 

Human element is truly being eliminated from business decisions. I wonder if the algorithm will get share options or a bonus?

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