In Ray Dalio's book Principles, he attributes his success to modeling the markets with computers, but never relying solely on them.
All trades would be looked at by an actual human, making sure that everything made sense and lined up.
I have my own doubts about a purely algorithmic approach (for now at least). Computers are great for many tasks, but for something as inherently irrational as the markets I think that should be at least partially moderated by a person with a deep understanding of the markets.
What trades are you referring to when you say they "would be looked at" by a person? The interview states quite the opposite:
> The level of human oversight varies. Among sophisticated quantitative investors, the process is fairly automatic. The models are being researched and refined almost constantly, but you would rarely intervene in the trading decisions of a live model. A number of hedge funds, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) run on auto-pilot.
All trades would be looked at by an actual human, making sure that everything made sense and lined up.
I have my own doubts about a purely algorithmic approach (for now at least). Computers are great for many tasks, but for something as inherently irrational as the markets I think that should be at least partially moderated by a person with a deep understanding of the markets.