Lately, tech stocks are known for two things: mass layoffs and AI chasing. As more and more tech stocks push into becoming AI stocks, a new arms race for the best AI product is mounting. Investors, accordingly, are eager to push their resources behind the next great development. They’re likely hoping that, when AI takes their job, they’ll be able to live on the dividends from investing in the AI that did the taking.
Right now, the frontrunner in the AI arms race is OpenAI, a privately-held startup. For those who want to get in on OpenAI in a roundabout fashion, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is the way to do so. Microsoft recently put a hefty slug of cash behind OpenAI, an amount said to reach up to $10 billion.
However, Microsoft was hardly alone. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) is putting $300 million into Anthropic, an OpenAI challenger. Anthropic is staffed by former OpenAI staff who left after a set of cultural and strategic changes hit. Anthropic focuses on building “…a more harmless assistant” under protocols it calls “Constitutional AI.”
Geography is even beginning to factor in. A recent Eurointelligence report suggests that Europe is lagging, and the current front-runners in the AI arms race are none other than China and the United States, with the U.S. narrowly ahead. The biggest reason? Europeans, on the whole, regard AI as a threat, not a potential solution to a slew of problems. Several other AI stocks are gaining ground and have been for much of the week.
Meanwhile, a look at the Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF (BOTZ) shows us that the arms race is indeed heating up, as the ETF has gained over 23% in the past three months.
