News & Insights

AI Bursts on the Investment Scene, Commodity Prices Weaken, and Productivity Disappoints

Let the AI Race Begin

The emergence of artificial intelligence, or AI, is a recent driver of stock performance. The initial buzz was started with the launch of Chat GPT, followed quickly by new products from better-known firms. These generative AI tools are touted to boost productivity in a wide variety of fields, including writing and coding. One analysis showed that engineers can code twice as fast with the GPT3 chrome extension. Another report concluded that a telemedicine AI chatbot provided better patient care, including empathy, than real doctors. AI technology is expected to touch a broad range of jobs, with one analysis projecting that AI could affect 80% of the workforce. Benefits are expected to be greater for cognitively demanding work in fields including law, education and finance, though one recent court case demonstrated that the technology needs to evolve. A law firm faces censure by a federal court in New York because one of the partners relied on AI to generate a pleading, only to find that the cases cited in the document didn’t exist. Jobs that require more human contact or fine motor skills, such as babysitters, construction workers or plumbers, are less likely to be affected. Overall, this technology has the potential to greatly enhance the productivity of a declining workforce in the developed world.