Regardless of what you consider to be “the next big thing” in technology — virtual reality, driverless cars, and/or the Internet of Things — they all have one trait in common: artificial intelligence (AI). According to a report from management consultant McKinsey Global Institute, AI is expected to add $13 trillion to the global economy by 2030. For that reason, tech-focused growth investors can't ignore developments in AI.
With that in mind, we asked three Motley Fool contributors for AI-focused stocks to watch. Read on to find out why Amazon.com(NASDAQ:AMZN), Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA), and Accenture(NYSE:ACN) made the cut.
A multipronged AI approach
Chris Neiger (Amazon): This may not be the first company you think of when making a list of potential artificial intelligence investments, but there are at least three reasons investors should pay close attention to what it's doing with AI.
First, Amazon's popular Alexa assistant is allowing the company to use AI to learn more about its customers than ever before. Every time Echo smart-speaker users ask Alexa to tell them the weather, play a song, order a pizza, or buy more toothpaste, the company learns just a little bit more about what its users want. And it'll be using that data for years to sell more goods and services on its e-commerce website.
“The Best Tech Stock Around”
But that's not Amazon's only AI strategy. The company has also integrated AI services, like facial recognition and speech and text translation, to its cloud computing platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS). It is the No. 1 cloud computing platform and Amazon's biggest moneymaker, all of which means that as AI services become more important to developers, Amazon will likely benefit as AI and cloud computing become further entwined.
Finally, the hidden aspect of Amazon's AI strategy comes from how it uses machine learning, a type of artificial intelligence, to help the company decide what deals to offer, what products to promote, and how much demand a product will have. So the next time you're scrolling through Amazon, and you find the exact product you were looking for, thank AI for that.
For these reasons, any investors looking for a stock that is betting big on AI from multiple angles should have Amazon high on their list. For the full story visit The Motley Fool.
