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Only a modicum of intelligence is needed to see that artificial intelligence (AI) will profoundly change our world given recent advancements in technology and innovation. During the pandemic, half of U.S. companies increased their investment in AI according to Accenture. AI holds enormous promise for companies to create value in all directions— from market leadership to a more skilled workforce to innovation that contributes to meeting the world’s top challenges. Regarding AI’s impact on society, Paul Daugherty, chief technology and innovation officer of Accenture, remarked, “This is by far the fastest moving technology that we’ve ever tracked in terms of its impact and we’re just getting started.”

Even though artificial intelligence was founded as an academic discipline more than 65 years ago, it has recently received remarkable buzz with the rollout of intelligent chatbots from Microsoft and Google. These chatbots use generative AI to rapidly produce answers in a “human voice” in response to questions or requests by synthesizing vast amounts of information on the Internet. Microsoft has invested billions in OpenAI’s ChatGPT and is integrating it into its Bing search engine. More than 100 million users flocked to ChatGPT within its first two months of launch. Google has unveiled Bard, its chatbot competitor, which seeks to combine the breadth of the world’s knowledge with the power, intelligence, and creativity of its large language models.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, said, “Whether it’s helping doctors detect diseases earlier or enabling people to access information in their own language, AI helps people, businesses and communities unlock their potential. And it opens up new opportunities that could significantly improve billions of lives.” He also noted, “Our long-term investments in deep computer science make us extremely well positioned as AI reaches an in- flection point, and I’m excited by the AI-driven leaps we’re about to unveil in Search and beyond.”

Microsoft plans to incorporate artificial intelligence tools into all its products and make them available as platforms for other businesses to build upon. Microsoft’s AI strategy also includes products that can expedite humanitarian aid efforts during natural disasters and accelerate research into solutions for climate control. Microsoft will invest billions of dollars to finance the computing power OpenAI needs to run its various products on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. Meta is also investing billions of dollars in data centers, servers, and network infrastructure to increase artificial intelligence capacity.

Apple‘s CEO Tim Cook stated that AI is a major strategic focus for the company and sees "enormous potential" for AI to impact "virtually everything we do." Cook added, "It's incredible in terms of how it can enrich customers' lives." Apple has already incorporated AI into its products, including crash detection in the iPhone 14 product line, fall detection on the Apple Watch, as well as the implementation of ECG readings on the Health app and Apple Watch.

The scale at which businesses are adopting AI technologies isn’t matched yet by clear guidelines to regulate algorithms and help researchers avoid bias in datasets and other potential pitfalls. Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, suggested years ago that the widespread embrace of AI would have a “hugely beneficial social effect, but a very unpredictable political effect if it came in fast.”

With the new generation of AI rolling out across American workplaces, McKinsey & Co. estimates that 25% of work activities in the U.S. across all occupations could be automated by 2030. This dovetails with a forecast made in 1930 by economist John Maynard Keynes who had predicted that in 100 years technology would eliminate the monotonous nature of work, freeing up humans to toil less and enjoy life more. By smartly investing in high quality companies embracing artificial intelligence, long-term investors should reap bright rewards.

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