SOLVED. Adult Sci-Fi. Artificial Intelligence programmed to make money in the markets causes chaos. Read around 2012. Spoiler ahead. [s]

[David]

I read this book probably around 2012 - I know that because it was around the same time that I read Robert Harris's The Fear Index and I was struck by the similarity in the theme, although very different in other ways.

It opens with the protagonist miserably facing a screen watching the number that represents the content of his bank account ticking higher and higher, I recall it was somewhere in the billions of dollars.

SPOILER.








We then go back to the sequence of events around the creation of the AI, it getting out of control, and the damage it causes as it manipulates markets, crashing countries' currency's and making money out of the chaos it creates. At the end we're back with the protagonist at his screen, but now we know the figure he's looking at is a tiny fraction of what the AI controls and he can't stop it.

[Andy]

This is Not a Game by Walter Jon Williams This is Not a Game

On the first page of the book

"A secure screen popped up. Charlie leaned forward and typed in his password by hand— for the crucial stuff, he preferred as little software interface as possible— and then reached for his Coke as his account balance came up on the screen.

Four point three billion dollars.

Charlie’s heart gave a sideways lurch in his chest. He was suddenly aware of the whisper of the ventilation duct, the sound of a semitruck on the highway outside the office building, the texture of the fine leather upholstery against his bare forearm.

He looked at the number again, counting the zeros.

Four point three billion.

He stared at the screen and spoke into the silence.

“This,” he said, “must stop.”"

[David]

That's it!

Many thanks, Andy

[Andy]

Glad to help!