Surging stockmarkets are powered by artificial intelligence

Do you buy the hype? The release of Chatgpt, a tool designed by OpenAI, has kicked off a wave of enthusiasm about artificial intelligence (ai). Everyone from spy agencies to law firms is trying to make use of the technology. And investors are working out how they might be able to take advantage by buying ai-exposed firms.

In the stockmarket this has manifested itself as an almighty boom in the valuation of tech companies. Openai might be private, but the s&p 500 index of leading American shares contains more than a dozen firms that design ai software, have invented or build the computing chips that make ai possible, or run the data centres that the tech relies on. The latest firm to experience an ai-induced rally is Nvidia. The Californian company’s share price has risen by almost 23% since it reported unexpectedly strong earnings on May 24th, and has more than doubled in the year to date. Nvidia is now the fifth most valuable listed corporate entity in America.