Artificial intelligence (AI) has been dominating the headlines, while every major tech company is joining the game.
But first things first:
1.What is Artificial Intelligence?
AI is intelligence exhibited by machines. In computer science, the field of AI research defines itself as the study of "intelligent agents": any device that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of success at some goal. Colloquially, the term "artificial intelligence" is applied when a machine mimics "cognitive" functions that humans associate with other human minds, such as "learning" and "problem solving".
2.With all the hype, you may be asking yourself: What's the best way to invest in this growing trend?
Let's look at three companies with solid artificial-intelligence programs: e-commerce titan Amazon, Google search parent Alphabet and cognitive-computing leader International Business Machines (IBM).
a) Amazon
Amazon believes that AI could be the fourth pillar of the company's business, behind its e-commerce, its cloud hosting unit Amazon Web Services (AWS), and its Prime membership program. Alexa, the company's virtual assistant and AI poster child, hosts a variety of products that leverage her AI foundation, including the Echo smart-home speaker, the smaller Dot, and the portable Tap, as well as the Fire tablet and Fire TV Stick. Using natural-language processing and cloud computing, these products respond to voice commands, and AI allows Alexa to learn continuously the more the products are used. Developers have created more than 10,000 "skills" that provide a variety of functionality, from ordering pizza to scheduling a ride-share.
Amazon has also been leveraging its deep-learning innovations by deploying them across AWS as managed services available to its customers. Lex, similar to Alexa, can build sophisticated chatbots; Rekognition provides image-recognition capabilities; and Polly reads and recites text. Amazon grew its revenue to $46 billion in its most recent quarter, so its AI contribution is currently microscopic, but that could change. RBC Capital Markets predicts that Alexa could contribute an additional $10 billion annually by 2020.
Stock market information:
Market Capitalization 458 billion USD
NASDAQ: AMZN
b) Google
Google has been investing heavily for years in a sub-discipline of AI called deep learning, and the result of that research is an artificial neural network, christened the Google Brain. By combining massive amounts of data with complicated algorithms, the system recognizes patterns and learns in a way similar to the human brain. The company has infused the knowledge gained into a vast array of its businesses, using AI to improve the reliability of its ubiquitous search, decrease the energy consumption of its servers, and catalog images from its Street View mapping cars.
Its AI-powered Google Assistant, the company's entry in the growing list of virtual personal assistants, is available in many of the company's branded devices and is the foundation for its Google Home smart speaker system. Google Assistant interacts with the company's Photos, Maps, Keep, Calendar, and other services, provides the ability to stream music and movies to Android mobile devices, and controls home-automation products. Google is also a well-known pioneer in the area of AI-based autonomous driving.
With $26 billion in revenue for the most recent quarter, Alphabet will notice little effect from Home just yet; this is a new product, so we don't have data for how popular it is, but the potential market is huge. Activate.com estimates that smart speakers will be in 21 million homes by 2020.
Stock market information:
Market Capitalization 630 billion USD
NASDAQ: GOOGL
c) IBM
IBM's Watson might be best remembered for its winning stint on the popular TV game show Jeopardy!, but Watson hasn't been resting on its laurels. You won't see consumer-facing products coming from Big Blue, but the company has developed a wide variety of business partnerships using the abilities of its cognitive AI supercomputer. Watson's earliest foray was into the field of healthcare, where it has been tasked with cancer research, immunotherapy, diabetes management, and genomic sequencing. Most notably, Watson was recently able to correctly diagnose cancer patients, agreeing with oncologists in 99% of cases. The cognitive computer also successfully diagnosed a rare form of leukemia in a case that had baffled doctors -- all within 10 minutes after being fed the data.
Watson has partnered in other fields, improving the accuracy of tax returns, providing cybersecurity, and improving regulatory compliance for financial institutions. Watson is a bet on AI-based cognitive computing, data analytics, and cloud computing, as the company moves away from its legacy hardware and IT services business. IBM has yet to disclose Watson's contribution, but "strategic imperatives," where Watson's revenue is reported, grew 13% in 2016 to account for 41% of total revenue.
Stock market information:
Market Capitalization 144 billion USD
NYSE: IBM
3.Conclusion
These companies are at the forefront of the AI revolution, but AI innovations represent only a portion of their total business.
That said, if you like any of these companies and are interested in adding AI to your portfolio, each offers that opportunity. We do know for sure that AI can help increase revenue and efficiency, provide a compelling and productive ecosystem to consumers, and provide new opportunities for business.
If you are looking for a promising investment in a groundbreaking technology, AI, for sure, is the perfect pick.
If you are interested in more science and investment news, feel free to upvote / comment / resteem
Yours
Alex
For further information:
https://www.fool.com/investing/2016/11/25/top-stocks-to-buy-in-artificial-intelligence.aspx
https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/27/3-top-ai-stocks-to-buy-now.aspx