AI Is Out of Control

Dear Reader,

If you’ve been reading our daily missives, you know we’ve been writing about artificial intelligence all year.

We’ve covered a lot of companies in the space, some big and some up-and-coming.

Had you invested at the beginning of the year in three small but popular AI companies — C3.ai, (NYSE: AI), BigBear.ai (NYSE: BBAI), and SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN) — you’d be sitting pretty.

As of this writing, each one was up triple digits in just a couple short months.

Sure, they’ve experienced extreme volatility as the AI market finds it footing, but one thing's for certain…

The trend is up.

That’s because investors are seeing the potential of AI in almost every industry, including defense, software, automobiles, entertainment, and even health care.

A story broke last month that ChatGPT-4 — the newest iteration of the popular AI chatbot — helped an Eastern European man diagnose a tick-borne disease in his dog. The dog was sick and the vet couldn’t figure out why, so the owner asked GPT-4 for help. After it spit out some possible diseases based on the dog’s symptoms, the man took the list back to his vet, who was able to confirm the illness through a blood test.

Pretty clutch, if you ask me.

Now, artificial intelligence has been used behind the scenes at tech companies for years.

As AI is a very vague and broad term, it’s hard for investors to pin down exactly what companies are using it for.

ChatGPT shows us that we can input text and get out an essay, software code, pictures, videos, and even songs.

Other industries using AI on a daily basis include, supply chain management, manufacturing and production, agriculture, ad generation, e-commerce, autonomous vehicles, facial recognition software, gaming, social media, robo-trading, and security.

But AI is just now becoming part of the mainstream narrative.

You know it’s become mainstream when 60 Minutes releases a special about it, brought to you by Pfizer.

Journalist Scott Pelley interviews Google CEO Sundar Pichai about AI programs and their implications on society.

According to PitchBook, the generative AI market — meaning chatbots that create new, realistic content based on human prompts — is expected to reach $42.6 billion this year.

Statista notes that the entire AI market is expected to grow to nearly $2 trillion by 2030.

 That's a lot of money that Google doesn't want to leave on the line.

We all know the name ChatGPT, so I wonder why Elon Musk or the CEO of OpenAI wasn't interviewed.

The episode was a last-ditch effort by the floundering tech company to retain AI market share.

Google created ChatGPT rival Bard, which was released after ChatGPT and hasn't gained much traction.

The company’s been playing catch-up ever since.

One topic of the interview?

How AI will spread misinformation and fake news, again, brought to you by Pfizer.

Blurred Lines

Pichai said we need to be careful and that we don’t fully understand generative AI’s capabilities.

The Google CEO isn’t wrong.

AI has the potential to transform how we receive and perceive information.

It’s already so powerful that the lines between reality and fantasy are becoming blurred.

Deepfakes have started popping up on the internet over the last few years.

Someone created a podcast with Joe Rogan interviewing Steve Jobs. It’s an incredible feat, but of course, it isn’t real.

The fear is people won’t be able to tell the difference between reality and AI.

The rapid rise of these technologies has prompted many in the industry to call for federal regulation and even a pause on its development.

Elon Musk is an adviser to the Future of Life nonprofit, which has the goal of “steering transformative technology toward benefiting life and away from extreme large-scale risks.”

The nonprofit penned an open letter just last month saying, “Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable.”

The letter opens with this:

AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity, as shown by extensive research and acknowledged by top AI labs. As stated in the widely endorsed Asilomar AI Principles, "Advanced AI could represent a profound change in the history of life on Earth and should be planned for and managed with commensurate care and resources." Unfortunately, this level of planning and management is not happening, even though recent months have seen AI labs locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one — not even their creators — can understand, predict, or reliably control.

The writers continue by discussing an AI “black box,” something that was brought up in the 60 Minutes episode as well.

And this is something we need to pay attention to.

What’s in the Black Box?

Essentially, the “black box” refers to when we can’t understand where a chatbot gets its answers from.

A user may ask a question and the answer that's spit out has nothing to do with the question.

This is a huge problem and leaves a lot of important questions unanswered.

Even now, we don’t know exactly where ChatGPT is scalping information from because it’s not open-source.

We can’t see where it’s getting the data.

Is it using our own personal data?

If so, we should be compensated.

Who’s giving it access to the data?

How is it filtering the data to answer our questions?

Is it biased?

Who controls it?

These questions weren't answered on the prime-time TV show, but ultimately Pichai restated what we’ve been saying for years: AI will affect every product of every company in every sector of the economy across the globe.

How's that for an investment idea?

The Future of AI

I predict that just like we all carry around our phones, every single person on the planet who has the means is going to carry around an AI-powered assistant.

Doctors and nurses will have one on hand to double-check charts, dosing, and bloodwork.

Musicians and artists will have one to generate inspiration or help with songwriting.

Drivers will want one in their car.

What company will come out on top is anyone’s guess.

But it's a fact that Google is sorely behind.

Elon Musk is reportedly working on a new AI program called TruthGPT that could throw a wrench into everything.

We're keeping a close eye on this sector and you should too.

Stay frosty,

Alexander Boulden
Editor, Wealth Daily

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After Alexander’s passion for economics and investing drew him to one of the largest financial publishers in the world, where he rubbed elbows with former Chicago Board Options Exchange floor traders, Wall Street hedge fund managers, and International Monetary Fund analysts, he decided to take up the pen and guide others through this new age of investing.

Alexander is the investment director of Insider Stakeout — a weekly investment advisory service dedicated to tracking the smartest money on the planet so that his readers can achieve life-altering, market-beating returns. He also serves at the managing editor for R.I.C.H. Report, a comprehensive service that uses the highest-quality investment research and strategies that guides its members in growing their wealth on top of preserving it.

Check out his editor’s page here.

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