Investment decisions driven by emotion are notoriously dangerous. So one firm has come up with the ultimate solution: a portfolio management system driven purely by artificial intelligence. It alters its approach autonomously and wades through trillions of pieces of data in.

Asset manager Sanlam has launched an actively managed fund that involves zero human input.

The fund relies on sophisticated programmes which predict how markets will change in the coming week - based on analysis of immense quantities of historical data - and alters the holdings accordingly.

The fund invests the vast majority of savers' money in a low-cost index tracker fund, tracking the MSCI World index. It then uses complicated derivatives called "short futures" on the main American index, the S&P 500, to limit losses and amplify returns.

If the analysis suggests markets will fall, it will increase the amount in short S&P 500 futures, which profit if markets drop. It will decrease the amount in short S&P 500 futures if it thinks markets will rise. It makes this decision and changes the asset allocation once a week.

Gideon Nell, head of global distribution at Sanlam Global Investment Solutions, said that the AI machine is backed by 602 computers and the system "eliminates human emotions" from the process.