http://chatwithtraders.com/ep-049-haim-bodek/ Theirs a link to the podcast. I've read the book Flashboys and seen many articles on elite trader talking about HFT. I find this stuff interesting yet doesn't really effect my trading as I personally swing trade off daily charts. I mean a Dom ladder is like Chinese to me. Anyways the interesting part I found was when he was asked how he thinks HFT effects retail traders and his basic response was it helps. This guy has a way better grasp of market micro structure then myself and probably most people. He had some interesting points on how HFT has tightened the spreads making what he refers to as "upstairs market makers" life more difficult. The other interesting part was when he mentioned that most retail traders trades never make it to the exchanges or even darkpools. I myself trade through TD direct investing (Canadian) and they don't really tell me where my order goes. From what I know their are laws for your broker to provide the best price available. He goes on to talk about "upstairs market makers" paying for order flow since they can't compete with HFT. Offering brokers rebates and possibly even better prices for their clients for order flow. I know most use some more advanced brokers that allow you more flexibility with directing orders. Which makes me wonder if all this gets too much thought from retail traders anyways. I'm assuming most people here aren't trying to compete with these guys anyways so maybe HFT needs a bit of praise. Just thought I'd share the link. It's a good listen I found.
AI trading includes HFT, AI trading is what is ushering the extinction of the career day trader, not HFT per se.