When looking for artificial intelligence (AI) stocks with new partnerships, the problem isn’t finding them; it’s trying to figure out whether these announcements make the companies AI stocks to invest in.
After all, if the advent of AI was a nine-inning baseball game, we’re only in the first couple of innings. Sure, companies like Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) have made impressive investments in AI-related businesses, but we’re far from deciding the winners of this generational trend.
Furthermore, just because Microsoft has spent $13 billion on its OpenAI partnership does not mean it’s money well spent. Some of the worst tech investments have taken years to reveal themselves.
I continue to view AI-related ETFs as an excellent way to bet on the future of AI. However, for those who feel they must cherry-pick high-potential AI stocks, here are three large companies recently announcing major AI partnerships.
Alphabet (GOOGL)
Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google division has announced so many partnerships recently that it’s hard to know which to discuss. It helps to have lots of money if you want a leg up in the AI race.
On June 14, Google announced it would expand its strategic partnership with HCLTech, a leading global technology company based in India. The partnership will see the two companies work together, helping enterprises to leverage generative artificial intelligence.
“HCLTech is actively using Google Cloud’s large language models (LLMs) to develop generative AI capabilities for its clients across three core domains: industries, enterprise functions, innovation and technology modernization,” stated the joint announcement.
HCLTech is adopting Google Workspace, Duet AI for Google Workspace and Developers, and Vertex AI across its entire business to accelerate its digital transformation.
Whether the two companies can make significant inroads through their collaboration remains to be seen. However, I don’t think there’s any doubt this means a revenue boost for Google’s cloud business and AI.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM)
In September, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) announced a strategic alliance with Cleareye.ai, a fintech startup whose ClearTrade platform streamlines the due diligence processing associated with trade finance transactions.
“Cleareye firmly believes that the ClearTrade solution has the capability to increase Trade Finance operations productivity by up to 70%,” stated the joint press release. “Through the automated examination of thousands of trade presentations, including both industry common and non-standard document types, the solution has demonstrated up to 9x increase in trade velocity, significant reduction in document checking errors, greater than 85% accuracy standards and up to 80% reduction in E2E processing time.”
In other words, time is money.
On June 20, the bank made a joint statement with Cleareye.ai saying that it was investing strategically in the startup’s business. As the bank continues to lean on Cleareye.ai’s software to root out money laundering, it may seek to buy the entire company to keep the good stuff for itself and not its competitors.
Either way, JPM is doing what it must to remain relevant in a digital age.
Zoom Video Communications (ZM)
Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ:ZM) announced in mid-May that it was partnering with Anthropic, whose generative AI platform, Claude, is designed to help avoid AI hallucination, a situation where the model says untrue things.
Claude can do so through a two-step process that first analyzes and critiques responses to a query and then applies a “niceness” model to create better, less offensive responses to those queries.
“Anthropic’s Constitutional AI model is primed to provide safe and responsible integrations for our next-generation innovations, beginning with the Zoom Contact Center portfolio,” Smita Hashim, chief product officer for Zoom, said in a May 16 press release. “With Claude guiding agents toward trustworthy resolutions and powering self-service for end-users, companies will be able to take customer relationships to another level.”
Zoom Ventures, the company’s venture capital arm, has agreed to invest in Anthropic as part of this partnership. While no terms were disclosed, it’s a sign that Zoom is serious about using AI to strengthen its various products, including the Zoom Contact Center.
On the date of publication, Will Ashworth did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
