The past two quarters of corporate earnings reports suggest that the hype surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) may be becoming a reality.
According to data compiled by Bloomberg and Apollo Chief Economist Torsten Slok, the terms “AI,” “machine learning,” and “generative AI” were mentioned in earnings conference calls 517 times in 2023, up from 517 times in the fourth quarter of 2023. In the fourth quarter of the year, the number had fallen to just 198. First quarter of 2024. (Disclosure: Yahoo Finance is owned by Apollo Global Management.)
“The positive effects of technology continue to support businesses, consumers and economic growth,” Slok told Yahoo Finance via email. “The question is: Is AI something special? So far, it looks like AI is not a revolution, but just a continuation of technology trends that started in the 1990s.”
Mentions of AI spiked in late 2022 after ChatGPT, a chatbot developed by OpenAI, was launched on November 30th. By the first quarter of 2023, technology giant Microsoft (MSFT) announced that it has reached an agreement between Bing and ChatGPT. AI-related terms were mentioned 268 times in the quarter’s financial results announcements.
By the second quarter of 2023, Microsoft continues to profit from its AI investments, while Google (GOOG, GOOGL) announced new generative AI products at the I/O conference in May. The number of mentions of AI jumped to 532.
The peak was in the third quarter of 2023. By then, all the big tech companies had entered the AI fray, with 691 mentions.
Semiconductor giant Nvidia (NVDA) particularly benefited from investments in AI during this period, with the company reporting a 206% year-over-year increase in revenue. The company said in its earnings call that data center revenue drove much of the company’s growth in the quarter as it continued to introduce new AI products.
Since then, the company has continued its upward trajectory. Earlier this week, NVIDIA’s market cap surpassed that of Alphabet and Amazon (AMZN) amid news that the semiconductor giant is building a new business unit to design chips for cloud computing companies and AI processors. .
The concept is now a reality, with analysts now aware that all major technology companies are testing AI. And, as Sløk points out, the question now is whether AI is a game changer or just a natural progression of the internet age.
Daniel Howley contributed to this post.
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Adriana Belmonte is a reporter and editor covering politics and health policy at Yahoo Finance. You can follow her on Twitter @adrianambells Please contact adriana@yahoofinance.com.
