If you have been following the news at all over the last 6 months, Artificial Intelligence has been at the front of everyone’s minds. Join us this week as we look at AI, some of the company’s involved, and some of the things you can do to get involved:
The AI Boom
At the time of filming this podcast, AI was only really announced to the world at large approximately 7 months ago. Host Andrew Baxter explains that we have seen AI tools be adopted in the same amount after 7 months as we saw with the internet over a 7 year time frame. Electricity even took 20 years to reach the same level of adoption, so it’s clear AI has really taken off quite quickly and is moving aggressively across the market. A number of businesses that are a part of the growth in AI have simply performed incredibly well as investors also recognise the potential for growth for companies integral to the AI space and plenty have made a great deal of money as we have seen this mass adoption of AI technology. Apple even reached a $3 trillion market cap recently which is an astronomical amount of money.
Search Engine Traffic
One indicator you can look at to identify these megatrends is search engine traffic. Host Andrew Baxter explains that AI and ChatGPT in particular were heavily searched in recent months as there was lots of hype around it and people were curious as to what it was and how it worked. The war in Ukraine was once in a similar position, being heavily searched but that hype eventually faded and nowadays it is yesterday’s news. We have since seen this traffic drop off and the cause can be either people are now informed or they are not interested. Given the role AI can play, it’s probably safe to say it’s due to people now knowing what it is. The hype is not always an indication of long-term success however as a similar phenomenon once took place with the buy now pay later businesses but they have very clearly not lived up to the hype, very much moving lower on the stock exchange.
Productivity
Wage costs, at least in some areas of the world, are a big driver of expenses for businesses. AI makes staff redundant in multiple areas and Host Andrew Baxter explains that many businesses are trying to find ways to decrease their costs when it comes to wages and AI offers the potential to do this. Productivity has increased since the introduction of AI and as a result the relative costs of wages have come off for companies. There has been no real teething period either where companies have struggled to incorporate AI for a while and had problems, these positive impacts have been seen and felt almost immediately since the inception of AI in standard business practices. Call centers are an example of businesses that save great money using AI while software companies also have some great uses for AI within the scope of their business.
AI Replacing People
One of the major concerns for many people is AI’s ability to render them redundant in their jobs for a fraction of the price. Host Andrew Baxter notes that there will be winners and losers that go along with the rapid growth and adoption of AI in businesses. Employees can be unreliable in that some days they may function better than others, but AI is always delivering at its peak level while also always improving that level as by nature it learns more and more over time.
AI Stocks
Sifting through different stocks to buy to try to profit from AI can be tricky as it’s hard to know what to look for. Some of the big businesses have already taken off and it may be too late but you’re sure to see opportunities arise for new emerging companies expanding into the AI space. Sometimes it takes a while for earnings and revenue to catch up to where the price has taken off to. Just with how new AI is, it’s impossible to know exactly where it’s going but it seems likely that companies we have never heard of up to now may be the ones that grow into AI titans.
