Perhaps the biggest hurdle for artificial intelligence technology is the fact that it relies on oceans of data to learn the necessary skills to become useful. As a result, the more data an AI has to train off of, the more potentially intelligent it will be. Yet data and training material are running out for companies like OpenAI and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), which aim to achieve artificial general intelligence.
Whether or not this will ever be possible with the current availability of data in the world, the companies which have harvested the most relevant data stand to gain significantly in the years to come, as AI developers become desperate for more information on which to train their models. This, in turn, will make that data incredibly valuable, driving the stock value of those who hold it. Thus, here are three data stocks to invest in for the future of AI training.
Meta Platforms (META)
As one of the most dominant social media stocks on the market, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) hardly seemed innovative when it launched its Threads app. However, the decision to launch its own Twitter/X style app following Elon Musk’s overhaul of the social media site was more than just about competing with Musk for the tweet-style market.
Rather, a likely reason why Meta launched Threads was to collect even more data for its large language model projects. This is mirrored by how Musk used X as an early data and training source for xAI’s Grok. Beyond the new source of data collection through Threads, Meta has access to a vast library of photo, video and even messaging data through its various other apps, like Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram.
As a result, the company is one of those data stocks that are deeply embedded in the future of AI training and have exceptional potential to grow as their data holdings become more valuable.
Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL)
As the most dominant search engine provider in the tech industry, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG, GOOGL) has access to unlimited search data and human interest patterns among all of the big data companies. With this in mind, it’s still important to recognize that Google’s Gemini AI product has not caught the attention and excitement that OpenAI’s ChatGPT has.
Beyond this, with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) now electing to have on-device support for ChatGPT moving forward, Google’s future in the AI industry will likely depend on its ability to house and process the data necessary to train whatever the most popular model on the market is.
Thus, Alphabet could soon become more like other major data stocks, which rely on trend analysis and customer revenue to keep growing. For investors, this would make Alphabet stock more like a resource provider rather than a technology innovator, but the value of its data sales could lead to even more growth in the future.
Amazon (AMZN)
One of the companies with the most access to consumer trends and data, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) will likely profit from two major aspects of the coming data shortage. The first aspect stems from Amazon’s extensive cloud storage and processing infrastructure, which lends itself well to the company’s ability to acquire, store and process the large quantities of data needed to keep improving AI capabilities.
The second important aspect stems from the company’s exclusive access to the purchasing trends of its e-commerce customers. Through both its retail customers and small business customers, the company can analyze everything from competitive pricing to product marketing and copywriting to provide as training data for AIs specialized in such information.
This niche specialization of data collection could make AMZN stock even more valuable in the future, when data becomes a central aspect of AI operation. As such, investors may want to keep a close eye on how demand for specialized data increases over time to determine how high AMZN stock could go from such resources.
On the date of publication, Viktor Zarev 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.
On the date of publication, the responsible editor did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.
