Analysts at US investment bank JPMorgan have accused 12 artificial intelligence hedge funds of playing a major part in the equities sell-off that hit global markets in early February.

The bank's analysts told clients on Friday they believe AI funds, which use machine learning in their trading processes to predict market trends, played a “big role in February’s de-risking” as their models rushed to unwind positions as volatility rose.

The team, led by London-based analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, wrote: “While we cannot prove this, we think the significant underperformance of AI funds during February, surpassing even that of CTAs, suggests the answer to the question [of whether AI funds played a role in the sell-off] is likely yes.”

“It is likely that AI funds, similar to CTAs, played a big role in February's correction,” the note added.

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AI funds slumped by 7.3% on average in February, according to the Eurekahedge AI index — the worst monthly decline since the index began in 2011. The index tracks the universe of just 12 existing funds that fit this category, as well as 11 defunct ones in order to avoid survivorship bias inflating performance.

JPMorgan's analysts said these 12 funds have become more correlated with broader systematic funds, such as CTAs, also known as trend-following funds, and risk parity funds, which have both been widely blamed for either causing or inflating the sell-off.

CTAs lost 6.5% on average in February, according the the HFRI Systematic Diversified Macro index — again the worst monthly performance since the index was launched. February losses among CTA funds, which were slow to recover when stability returned to markets in the second half of the month, “confirm the major role CTAs played in the February correction”, they wrote.

Two of the biggest CTAs in the industry, run by Man AHL and Winton Group, were still in the red at the end of February, according to industry figures. Man AHL’s flagship $5.9bn Dimension fund was down 5.1% in February, while its $4.4bn AHL Alpha fund was down almost 6%. David Harding’s $9.8bn Winton fund was down 5% in February.

The universe of AI hedge funds is small but growing. Quantitative strategies have become popular with investors over the last decade and assets under management are expected to top $1tn this year, according to HFR.

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To contact the author of this story with feedback or news, email Tabby Kinder