Scouring social media for 'tips'

Software developers tap AI to scan, analyze posts on Shanghai, Shenzhen shares

More than 125 million Chinese use their Sina Weibo accounts every day to gossip about celebrities, find hip restaurants and stay in touch with family. They also talk about stocks, and that has entrepreneurs listening.

At least a dozen developers are introducing products that use artificial intelligence to scour social-media posts in China for comments about shares on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges. The software searches for keywords and then distills its findings into summaries of whether investors are positive or negative about particular companies.