Pre-crime is coming. Â Actually, pre-crime has been here for half-a century, but nobody’s really noticed yet (and, truth be told, a great many people will still never notice until it bites them in the *ss).
Take credit scores, as an example.  Your score is based on your history.  They look at your reliability, your f*ckups, your open credit lines, your possible debt (if you go all hog-wild and blow your remaining open balance on thousand dollar whiskey and strippers, for example).  They analyse your past behavior to determine your future behavior.  Because people tend to fall into a rut.  We fall into a pattern.
The JP Morgan algorithm is doing much the same thing. Â It’s looking, not for a single f*ckup, but for a pattern of behavior (which is funny, since “Past performance is not a guarantee or indicator of future performance.” is typed neatly at the bottom of every brokerage account statement for every brokerage firm *everywhere*). Â Those patterns of behavior used to be the purview of the managers, the Branch Admins who’s job it was to keep an eye on all the transactions that went in and out. Â Once upon a time, it was a big job. Â Once the internet became a THING it became an almost impossible job.
And for those among you, who is not going to feel better knowing that their banker or broker has another layer of control on them to make sure they don’t blow all your savings on a trip to Tahiti?
And how many of you, who held your hand up just now, are going to complain when those same algorithms are applied to YOUR jobs? Â In retail, in concessions, in any company where you have a lot of employees and a lot of opportunities, this thing is going to find a home.
