Investors who fantasise about how much money artificial intelligence could help them make should study the chart below. It plots the 15-year performance of the Eurekahedge AI Hedge Fund Index, which its creator says “is designed to provide a broad measure of the performance of underlying hedge fund managers who utilise artificial intelligence and machine learning theory in their trading processes.”

From December 2009 through July of this year, the index produced a 9.8% annualised return, versus 13.7% for the S&P 500’s total return.