Artificial Intelligence is a general-purpose technology that could potentially have a more profound impact on the economy and our way of life than the internet. Like other general-purpose technologies that have produced transportation, energy, and communication, AI produces intelligence.
This intelligence is across various domains, including biology, robotics, gaming, and art. If we consider a computer as a “bicycle for the mind,” then generative AI might well be likened to an “airplane,” expanding the horizons of human capability and productivity.
As we navigate the early stages of this technological era, both hardware and software development continue to evolve at an unprecedented pace. NVIDIA’s latest Blackwell GPU, for instance, boasts computational power 1,000 times greater than GPUs from a decade ago.
Furthermore, new software architectural designs, such as transformers, will continue to alter the industry landscape by allowing for more advanced applications like machine translation, chatbots, and different kinds of creative content. The continuing evolution and interaction between software and hardware will provide significant tailwinds for AI.
AI will cause upheavals in the labor market. Ironically, one of the first professions it may impact is the field that produced it, software engineering. This reflects historical patterns, such as the decline in agricultural employment following the invention of the cotton gin. In the interim, roles characterized by repetitive tasks, such as customer service support, are likely to be phased out.
This is already being seen. Klarna has reported that their AI assistant now manages two-thirds of customer interactions, resolving inquiries more efficiently and reducing the frequency of repeat queries. Other companies have begun rollouts of their own “copilots,” from Microsoft to Meta. As AI technology advances, the pace of these labor market shifts is expected to accelerate.
Adoption will be faster as the requisite infrastructure is already in place, enabling any new AI development to quickly reach billions of users. Although new industries will emerge, the effect of AI on employment will undoubtedly become a matter of intense political debate.
Thus far, the primary beneficiaries of this technological wave have been major corporations such as NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Meta, along with hardware manufacturers and assemblers like Supermicro Computer, Vertiv, and Dell who have benefited from the data center build out for AI workloads. This marks just the initial wave of advancement. The leaders in novel use applications remain to be seen, and entirely new business models are anticipated to emerge. The coming years show promise that AI will be highly lucrative for those who can identify those candidates as well as companies whose competitive advantages, or “moat,” will be significantly strengthened through AI integration.
Forward-thinking investors stand to reap substantial rewards by identifying and investing in companies that emerge at the forefront of the AI revolution – innovation that will redefine industries, reshape competitive dynamics, and unlock unprecedented wealth creation.
______________
Deiya Pernas, CFA, Co-Founder of Pernas Research, began as an analyst at Morgan Stanley before becoming a founding member of The Bahnsen Group. As Deputy Chief Investment Officer, he played a pivotal role in growing assets from $500 million to over $3.5 billion. In 2022, he founded Pernas Research, aiming to provide insightful, transparent, and performance-driven equity research for investors.
© 2024 Newsmax Finance. All rights reserved.
Read the full article here
