Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence is traveling on a fast train.
Investors are enthusiastic about AI. Late last year, an AI research lab introduced a chatbot that could answer questions – and people were enthralled. Within two months of its introduction, more than 100 million people had engaged with the technology. It wasn’t long before AI platforms that could generate images and audio, and help with coding, were released.
It’s difficult to know whether investor enthusiasm influenced companies, but more firms mentioned artificial intelligence on recent quarterly earnings calls than ever before. AI mentions were up 77 percent during fourth quarter calls (after the chatbot was released) and reached an all-time high on the most recent round of calls, reported Jennifer Ryan of Bloomberg.
Between March 15 and May 25, AI was mentioned on the earnings calls of 110 companies in the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 index, reported John Butters of FactSet. The sectors where AI was mentioned the most were:
- Information technology (IT) – industries like semiconductors, software, and IT services
- Industrials – industries like aerospace and defense, air freight and logistics, transportation, construction, and engineering
- Communication services – industries like telecommunications services, entertainment, and interactive media and services
Focus – A Little Humor
“You can observe a lot by watching.”