Episode #38 - AI as an Investment Opportunity
25:47
Todd Pisarczyk, Nik Miner & Linde Carroll
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TRANSCRIPT
Welcome everybody to the Momentous Wealth Podcast, where we discuss current issues in the world of finance and break them down into understandable terms to further your education. Momentous Wealth Management is a financial planning and investment management firm based in Washington. We've been serving clients for more than 20 years, and on this show we take that experience and put it to the microphone in an effort to educate investors in the complex world of finance and financial markets. Well, this week's podcast is all about artificial intelligence, so we're excited to talk about it. Obviously this is something that's been in the news quite a bit, but what we're really gonna focus on is the investment aspects of it and potential opportunities. So excited today to be joined by two of my colleagues. So we have Nik Miner and also Linde Carroll, who's one of the advisors at our firm, and she is our resident, CFP as well. So welcome both of you. Hi guys. Thank you. It's good to be here. Yeah. And let's, let's jump right in. So, Linde, what, what is artificial intelligence? I mean, it, it's kind of funny 'cause I feel like, I mean obviously Nik's the young guy on the call, but this is something that I feel like we've been talking about for a while, but, you know, for whatever reason it's ramped up quite a bit. So Yeah, absolutely. Tell, tell us us what's going on?
Yeah, well I think, you know, when you hear the words artificial intelligence, I think the, the first thing that comes to mind are, you know, all of those Hollywood movies where basically robots come in and take over the world and, you know, kind of, you know, re take out the human population. So I think that can sometimes make it seem a little bit scary. But I think in simplest of terms, AI is really the science of making machines that can think like humans. So, you know, making computers and, and other machines be able to process lots of large amounts of data in ways that we really can't do as humans. They can recognize patterns, they can make decisions and really just process data like the human brain does. So I think that's really, when we're talking about artificial intelligence now, you know, that's really what we're kind of talking about. That's, it's, it's definitely changed quite a bit. And I think that, you know, obviously hearing or, you know, chat GPT and all that kinda stuff has really been in the news quite a bit. But, you know, I think as you were describing, Linde, I mean, artificial intelligence is, it's all around, it's, it's being used quite a bit already. I mean, what are, what are some of the examples of ways that, that artificial intelligence is being used right now? Other than the, the whole chat GPT stuff?
Yeah, I, I agree with what you said. Where, you know, artificial intelligence or ai, it's been around for a long time. Like we've been using this technology, for example, in planes. They've been using it to leverage and process data to help computers fly planes. You know, when you're talking to Siri or Alexa, that's artificial intelligence, that's ai, you know, it has the ability to understand commands, carry out tasks, face recognition on your phone, asking Google for directions to your favorite restaurant body movement. So this is really interesting too, like in the gaming industry where a lot of this technology, you know, finds its initial applications. So think body movements and gesture controls and gaming started out with the we and now we have virtual reality and things where you're actually in a scene and things like that. So that's where we've seen a lot of that technology just kind of growing and being applied in in recent times. I think Nvidia right now is the stock that's kind of most synonymous with, with AI stuff, but didn't, didn't they get their start in video game technology? Yeah, they do a lot of graphics. Well, that's their main thing is the graphics cards, which is most heavily used, I think, in the gaming industry. So it's, it's kind of an interesting switch to see 'em now being touted as like this, the AI company. Yeah. Yeah.
So it seems like, I mean, w why do you guys think that, like with chat GPT, I mean I, is that kinda what's caused this a of AI to really be on the forefront these days? Yeah, I, I would say that's what's really caused the interest to explode in AI just because, you know, the way that Chat GPT can be used, it's just, it's something that you and I can use on a daily basis. You know, I'm not creating video games, so it's not something I use in my, you know, daily work. But, you know, we've kind of had some fun playing around with different ways to use chat GPT just in some of the things that we're doing here at the office. I think that's kind of the biggest thing that's propelled it to kind of the forefront of conversation is just that it's, it's become so much more accessible recently with, you know, it's now you can use it for all sorts of applications. You've got plugins, you can use it with existing programs, you can now, you know, text to image and, and you know, say like, create me a picture of a dog jumping through the air, you know, whatever. And they've even released a code. So not only can you use it for all sorts of different applications, but you can use it to create kind of your own AI in a sense, your own language learning model.
And so it's almost like the keys to the castle, we were just handed to the public and it was like, Hey, okay, everyone have at it have a bunch of fun. Yeah. What could go wrong with that? Yeah, exactly. But yeah, some of the data that Charles Schwab was, was talking about is that, so chat GT GPT was launched in November of 2022 by Open OpenAI and by January it had a hundred million users. And at this time it now has 1.5 billion visits per month. So yeah, that's crazy explosion of use since that really has started. And I think, like Nik, what you were saying is it's kind of that that that blank page, like you can take, you know, say you wanna talk about, hey, let's, let's look at a new marketing campaign and you can, you know, plug stuff into JA Chat DGPT with just, I'm looking at a new marketing campaign for this, this, this. And it just kind of gives you some, you know, a base to start from. So you're really not starting from that just blank canvas of, okay, how do I create a marketing campaign? How do I create this email? How do I create a, you know, multitude of things. So that's what's kind of cool about it too. Yeah.
So on, on our show, you know, our, our podcast is dedicated primarily to helping investors and you know, obviously we're not experts in the field of ai, but you know, some of the stuff that we're looking at for clients is just, you know, where where might this be used in the future? What are some investment opportunities around AI and, and everything that's going on in that industry. So, you know, what, what are your thoughts on just applications for it now? Like, how's it being used? What are some of the areas of business that, that we're seeing with AI? And, and maybe we could talk about kind of how we see it helping or making business potentially more profitable. I think there's a lot of potential business applications that could be really beneficial to consumers. So areas of healthcare where it can help with better or quicker diagnostic testing. It can help with transcribing doctor's notes, things like that. I think really the goal of AI in business is going to be helping to make things more efficient. Yeah. And I think that's where the application is gonna be huge for companies think travel industry where you can go somewhere in the world and you have a translator, right, right in your hands. And we have a little bit of that with Google Translate, but you could just be talking and translating language right there on the spot.
You know, something that's not as easy to do right now. We could have personal assistants that are helping us schedule appointments. It can be used in customer service as kind of that initial level. Like, I don't know if you've, I've gone onto websites and a little little box pops up in the corner and says, if I have any questions, and it's a virtual assistant and it can really take care of some of those easy questions so that, you know, companies can focus on other things. So there's just so much possibility there of being able to alleviate some of the more mundane tasks so that, you know, humans can kind of focus on the more technical aspects of things. You know, just thinking about this as a enhancement versus a replacement, I know that there's so much concern over is artificial intelligence gonna take my job away? And you know, I think back to, you know, Nik, we were at lunch the other day and you know, we, I remember you and I had this conversation 'cause I mean, it's interesting, our, our ages, you know, I'm in my mid forties, you're kinda late twenties and you know, back when I was your age it was the internet. And I remember back then thinking like we were kind of scared about it. 'cause it's like, wow, what is this thing?
And you know, obviously like the whole internet investing phenomenon and people opening up accounts online and you know, back then you had all these fears of like, you know, is everybody gonna lose their jobs? But in reality, if we look at kind of where it's gone, we're just way more efficient. You know, we're all able to just do so much more. I use this example all the time, but like when, when I first started, you know, and I'm, I'm 47, I'm not that old, but you know, when I started in the business, it was right outta college. And I remember like, there were eight financial advisors in the firm that I worked at, and we had one computer that all of us shared. And when a client called and wanted to know their account value, like we literally had to pick up the phone, call our home office and then call the client back. You know? And that wasn't that long ago, you know, that was like in 1999.
And you know, I, I look at what we're able to do at our firm was seven people and the amount of clients we have and the money that we manage and everything that, you know, back, like when Linde and I started working together at the firm we used to be with, I mean, I think like if we had, if the technology was the same as it was back when Linde and I first started, we'd have to have 25 people working here to do a seven of us can do now. There's just been so many enhancements around technology and, and financial technology with regards to like the way that we're able to place trades and all the kinda stuff that we do. So, you know, I I think from a business perspective, we really need to be looking at, at the industries that can benefit from this and, and not be so worried about like, whose jobs these are gonna take away. Yeah. And I, and, and the other thing I think we need to think is that when, when people try to predict and guess where this is going, right? Like, so from an investment perspective, I think people need to be very careful about trying to pretend like they know exactly where this is going.
Like, I remember when, when computers were first coming out, like, like there were so many computer companies and, and we knew that computers were going to, were gonna be a thing, but it would've been really hard to guess who the winners and losers were gonna be. Right? And I think about like, the way the human mind works, we can only think in a linear way. So like for example, when the internet came out, we could pretty easily make assumptions about kinda where it was gonna go and the things that it was gonna make easier in our lives. But there's no way that we had the capacity when the internet first came out to envision that we were gonna have companies like Uber and Amazon that were born from the internet, right? Like, like nobody could have imagined that that's the way it was gonna go. And, and so I think it's kind of the same thing with this AI stuff and you know, like with applications like chat GPT where like we could pretty easily see like how chat GPT can make our lives easier and more efficient and all that kinda stuff. But I just think we have to be careful and realize that like where this thing ends up, like nobody knows 'cause it's gonna branch off in so many directions.
Kinda like what happened with the internet back, back in the day, you know, like we just couldn't have imagined again, like, you know, companies like Uber being born from, you know, the fact that we had this internet technology. So yeah, I think too, kind of like to that point of we were making about Nvidia where we're like, this was a, a video game processing company who, who would've thought that they're gonna be like at the, our current time, like, you know, one of the premier AI development software companies. Yeah. And if you think about Google, they've been developing AI for a while called Gemini. And if you were to, you know, ask somebody maybe at the beginning of last year, you know, who's gonna be the first one to release ai? Be like, eh, who knows, probably Google. 'cause they have this big thing that they've been working on. But if somebody had said, oh, it's actually gonna be this kind of smaller company, open AI, and they're gonna beat Google to the punch and they're gonna dominate the market as fast as they have, you know, you would've been like, I don't know about that. I don't know if there, right, right.
And, and the the shifts are just so fast and so large with this stuff that if you, if you try and try and time it or think you know what's gonna happen, it's, you can be left in the dust and just in a moment. Yeah. And, and there's all, you know, this, you know, we'll, we'll kinda get in. I think this is a good time to kind of get into some of the investment opportunities around this. But it's like what you just said, Nik. That's such a great point. 'cause I've, I've heard this example used in our industry several times. This is not original thinking by me, but you know, it's like the gold rush, right? Yeah. I mean, if you were someone who back in the day was like, gonna go try to strike it rich and find gold, you know, sure. There were people that that worked. You know, there were a ton of people that went broke and then there were a handful of people that strut gold were, and were rich and everything else. But you know, really like the people that made all the money were the people supplying the jeans and the pickaxes and the shovels and all that kind of stuff, right? And that's how it's been with computers and other technology.
I mean, you looked at like these chip makers like Intel back in the day, like supplying all the chips for all these computers and, and it didn't really matter that, you know, company like, you know, compact, you know, I remember Compact back in the day, well, they're gone now, but you know, you have Apple and you have Dell and all these computer companies that survived, but there were a whole bunch of 'em that went away. Right? And, and I think that whenever there's a technology like this right now, that's kind of the thinking is ultimately we don't know who's gonna kinda win out of this thing, but there's certainly investment opportunities around, you know, selling the axes and the shovels and the jeans to the people trying to make it work, right? Yeah. It definitely seems like the, the early innovators are the ones, you know, at the front end of the technology that really reaped the benefits. But as that technology then becomes more available, it's how are companies then taking this technology and, and adapting it to their business model. And then the, you know, the next explosion comes of how it's, how it's being used and, and next layer of opportunities and it just continues to develop and grow and change. So you're right, it's, it's not gonna be the same people now. Maybe in five, 10 years we'll be talking about somebody totally different leading the way in this area.
So that's always Yeah, very interesting to see how it evolves. Yeah. Yeah. So what, Linde, what are some of the investment opportunities that, that you think people maybe should consider around this? And obviously like, you know, we'll throw the disclaimer out there. We're not, we're not given any specific recommendations. 'cause as we've tried to, I think talk about on the, on the show so far as like nobody knows where this is going. And, and, and obviously like investments like this tend to carry a, a pretty good amount of risk. So, you know, whenever we talk investment opportunities around anything, you always wanna consult your advisors and make sure that, you know, any investment in, in anything is, you know, the right thing for your portfolio and your goals and, and everything else. So, you know, with all that said is, is there anything else around investment opportunities that, that people might wanna know about or things to avoid potentially as well? Not just maybe what to look at, but, but things to stay away from?
Yeah, I think it's always, you know, when these opportunities come up and there's a lot of of noise happening around this area, I think certainly one cue would be to kind of avoid maybe the celebrity endorsements or, you know, I think we learned a lot from the crypto sector at, you know, just because a, a famous actor or a famous athlete or some sort of social media site is really hyping a product or a company, you know, just, you know, take it at face value and make sure that you're really doing your research. Because again, this is a fast growing and there's tons of information out there. So you really gotta kind of sort through the weeds and figure out what's actually legit information. And there's lots of places to do that. Like, you know, our clients at Charles Schwab, there's a lot of resources, resources on the Schwab site for that. There's other third party research options like Morningstar, CFRA, Argus, you know, even the, the funds themselves will have a lot of more kind of in-depth information and have to, to share about that. So that's certainly something to, to be thinking about as you're looking at the different businesses. Certainly on the front end of it, we've seen with like the chip makers, the manufacturers, those that are helping process the data, you know, those are the ones that are showing a lot of growth right now in the area.
So I think, you know, I could see one of the major risks with AI just being some of the unknowns around regulatory issues. You know, I I I hear all the time about should we limit this? Should we stop? You know, should we put a pause on it right now just 'cause of some of the concerns about where this thing might go? So is that, you know, for investors, something that maybe would be a consideration is just potential regulatory issues, Linde, or, yeah, I think that's gonna be huge. Congress, it's, it's really becoming kind of a topic that we're hearing about. Congress is really looking at ways to develop rules and regulations to kind of put some parameters and guardrails around this. And, you know, the companies that are creating this technology are interested in partnering with Congress on making those rules and regulations to protect consumers. At the same time, you've gotta balance that. You don't want to squash innovation, right? Because if we put so many rules around it and squash innovation, you know, there's other places around the world that aren't gonna put, you know, those, those guardrails or those parameters into really slow the progress. So I think that's really the balance that legislators are gonna have to kind of strike between, you know, protecting the consumer, but also allowing for the growth of this because it's, it's, it's taking off all around the world.
And, and with that in mind, we also have to look at international regulation, like how are we gonna partner with other countries and governments to develop the, this framework of, of rules and regulations for, for people to play by. So that's, it's gonna be, it's gonna be tricky moving forward for sure. Yeah, and I think, you know, it, it kind of just goes back to like why investors always wanna be diversified. You always wanna make sure that anything you invest in is an appropriate weighting in your portfolio. Because I think this is the prime example of, you know, we're all sitting here and probably with, you know, who knows what'll happen, but I think at this point we've realized that, you know, AI's probably here to stay, right? You know, as you alluded to earlier, when we talk about ai, I mean, well, I mean, AI's been around for a long time, it's just, we're starting to use this term more because of what's going on with companies like Chad, GPT, but, but, you know, like, it, it's gonna be there and we know that it's gonna probably be a, something that businesses need to figure out and how to stay competitive with. But no matter how sure of a thing something looks, you know, you get some regulation or something like that, that comes out and all of a sudden that's gonna have a major negative impact on the price of a stock potentially.
And so, you know, it's, it's, it's why investors kind of no matter what, like that diversification is, is key, right? And I'll say that likely investors today probably have a good amount of exposure to what's going on in this world, maybe even if they don't know it. Because when I think about an investor now that just owns an s and p 500 index fund, you know, like we did a podcast on this not that long ago, where if you look at the largest components of the s and p 500, right now, it's companies like Microsoft and Nvidia. I mean, Nvidia was nowhere near the top, you're right, a year ago. But now, you know, I think Nvidia, when we did the podcast a couple months ago, had moved all the way up to like, they're like the fifth largest company on the s and p 500 now. So I would say that if you're an investor that is thinking, Hey, do I need to get involved in investing in ai, am I gonna miss the boat on this? Like, you know, the whole FOMO thing will realize that if you're investing in a boring s and p 500 index fund, like you've got a good amount of exposure to this stuff. Because those companies and those technology companies like Google and Meta and Nvidia are all within the top 10 of companies in that index right now.
And, and those top 10 companies are responsible for the bulk of the either positive or negative returns we're seeing on the s and p these days. So, you know, not only as an investor do you likely have exposure directly to companies working on AI technology, but as you talked about earlier, Linde, I mean even healthcare companies and things like that are, are using this to their advantage right now. So it's kind of everywhere, right? I mean, it's, it's all around us, whether you know it or not. And if you're investing in a mutual fund that's own owning stocks like you, you probably have a, a good amount of exposure to this. And, and, you know, frankly, it's probably responsible for a large portion, if not the largest portion of, of any gains you might've seen in your portfolio this year with the market being up is just the fact that, you know, the, again, those companies are really driving the returns in the s and p right now, so, well, any, anything else that we, that we need to discuss or anything that you think investors should know about this topic? No, I think you, you, you kind of hit the nail on the head, just, you know, buyer beware, be smart, do your research. You know, don't put all your eggs in one basket, right? So make sure that, you know, you can have this in your portfolio.
I think some of the age old advice when you have these really new hot technologies is, you know, don't put more in than you're willing to lose, right? So don't, you know, don't put the farm on this. Be really careful as you kind of venture into this area, have it be part of that diversified portfolio like you talked about Todd. And, and yeah, just educate yourself and learn about it before you, you step into it. Great advice. Well, thanks for joining us today, Linde. Very good insights on alternative, or sorry, artificial intelligence, not alternative intelligence. And we hope y'all enjoyed the show today. Have a great rest of your day. The opinions expressed in this podcast are for general informational purposes only, and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual or specific security. It is only intended to provide education about the financial industry to determine which investments may be appropriate for you. Consult your financial advisor prior to investing. Any past performance discussed during this program is no guarantee of future results. Any indices reference for comparison are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. As always, please remember, investing involves risk and possible loss of principal capital. Please seek advice from a licensed professional. Momentous Wealth Management Inc. Is a registered investment advisor. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where Momentous Wealth Management Inc. And its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure.
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