This Robot Said to Sell Facebook. Next Time It May Be Right

On Oct. 6 a note from Wells Fargo & Co.’s equity research department downgraded Facebook Inc. to sell, making it one of only three brokerages with such a dour rating. The analyst making the call was unusual, too. Its name is Aiera, or artificially intelligent equity research analyst.

Aiera is the creation of Ken Sena, a veteran internet analyst at Wells Fargo, who describes it as a self-learning program that can do some parts of his job better than he can. Aiera had read thousands of stories about Russian-linked ads on Facebook during last year’s U.S. presidential election. Politicians were up in arms, and Congress called for hearings. Aiera’s algorithms picked up on the bad vibe and thought it could trigger other investors to sell. The rating was a little awkward for Wells Fargo. Sena himself, based on his own research, was recommending the stock with an outperform rating.