"OpenAI Rival Anthropic Courts Finance Industry With New AI Tools"

From Bloomberg, July 15:

Artificial intelligence startup Anthropic is launching a package of new software services aimed at streamlining work for financial analysts, joining a growing number of AI companies vying to win business from Wall Street professionals.

The new offering, called Claude for Financial Services, is designed to help analysts conduct market research, handle due diligence and make investment decisions, Anthropic said on Tuesday. The product pairs Anthropic’s core enterprise and coding AI tools with information from third-party financial data providers, including FactSet, PitchBook and Morningstar, for customers with subscriptions to those services.

“This is the missing piece between an AI tool that’s interesting and cool, and one that’s deeply useful,” said Mike Krieger, chief product officer at Anthropic and co-founder of Instagram. “Right now, there’s a real moment of: If we don’t adopt these tools, we’ll be left behind by people who are doing it.”

OpenAI and Perplexity AI have also added features in recent months to attract customers in the financial services sector, with the goal of expanding the business uses of AI and boosting sales. While Anthropic is smaller than OpenAI, its revenue is growing at a fast clip. The startup’s annualized revenue increased from $3 billion to $4 billion in the past month, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly on private matters.

Anthropic is looking to further its sales momentum with a new hire. The company has recruited Paul Smith, a former executive at ServiceNow Inc., to join as its first chief commercial officer later this year, the person said....

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July 14 - "Goldman Sachs launches AI tool — fueling fears that ‘rise of the machines’ could hit jobs"

We happened to catch ServiceNow as it was transitioning from cloud software toward a more AI-centric company.

November 17, 2020 -  Investor's Business Daily on Artificial Intelligence Stocks

There is a definitional problem with the term "AI stocks [or companies]" in that AI is a tool. Much as the (over) hyped nanotechnology revolution didn't produce "nanotech stocks" but instead became incorporated into processes and procedures that give companies employing same an incremental edge rather than epochal shifts.*

However, if there is an AI "company" Nvidia would deserve the moniker as much as anyone.

From Investor's Business Daily, November 16:

Artificial Intelligence Stocks To Buy And Watch Amid Rising AI Competition 

Artificial intelligence stocks are rarer than you might think. Many companies tout AI technology initiatives and machine learning. But there really are few — if any — public, pure-play artificial intelligence stocks.

The "AI" stock ticker, though, has been claimed. Startup C3.ai, which sells AI software for the enterprise market, filed on Nov. 13 for an initial public offering.
Thomas Siebel, who started Siebel Systems and sold it to Oracle for nearly $6 billion in 2006, founded Redwood City, Calif.-based C3.ai.
Further, the number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. In the year ended April 30, C3.ai said revenue rose 71% to $157 million, with a net loss of $69.4 million.

In general, look for companies using AI technology to improve products or gain a strategic edge, such as Netflix (NFLX).  Intel (INTC), Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google and Microsoft (MSFT) in 2019 made the most investments in AI startups, said a CB Insights venture capital report.

Microsoft, Nvidia Among AI Plays On Leaderboard

Microsoft belongs to the IBD Leaderboard. Further, the Leaderboard is IBD's curated list of leading stocks that stand out on technical and fundamental metrics.

Chip maker Nvidia (NVDA), a leader in artificial intelligence, also belongs to the Leaderboard. Nvidia in September agreed to buy Arm Holdings from Softbank for $40 billion.
In a report to clients, RBC Capital analyst Mitch Steves said that: "Nvidia will extend its architecture and offer artificial intelligence or 'acceleration in a box' for all ARM-based chips. He added: "Instead of looking at ARM as a potential CPU play alone, we think the bigger picture is that 22 billion-plus ARM chips can be accelerated with AI."

Square Capital, part of digital payment processor Square (SQ), provides loans to merchants. Square Capital uses an AI-driven credit assessment platform in granting new loans.

Software Companies

Aside from chip makers, some software companies are among artificial intelligence stocks to watch. Many software-as-a-service companies use AI tools. Further, Workday (WDAY) showcased its AI and machine learning product innovation at a digital transformation investor event on Oct. 20.

San Mateo, Calif.-based Coupa (COUP) on Nov. 3 agreed to buy Llamasoft, a provider of AI-powered supply chain software, for about $1.5 billion. Llamasoft's customers include Boeing (BA) and Home Depot (HD).

Enterprise software maker ServiceNow (NOW) has been making AI acquisitions. Under new Chief Executive Bill McDermott, ServiceNow in January acquired two AI companies, Passage AI and Loom Systems.
In addition, ServiceNow owns a Relative Strength Rating of 90 out of a possible 99. Further, ServiceNow stock belongs to the IBD Leaderboard.

DocuSign (DOCU) on Feb. 27 agreed to buy Seal Software for $188 million. The startup uses artificial intelligence for contract analytics.

Intel on Dec. 16 acquired Israel-based Habana Labs for $2 billion. Also, Intel in 2016 bought Nervana Systems in an earlier move to take on AI chip leader Nvidia.

In addition, analysts expect the battle in AI chips for data-center applications to heat up in 2020.

AI technology uses computer algorithms. The software programs aim to mimic the human ability to learn, interpret patterns and make predictions. "Machine learning" is the most widely used form of AI deployed in industries. Machine learning systems use huge troves of data to train algorithms to recognize patterns and make predictions.

AI Stocks: Chipmakers Nvidia, Intel Battle

All AI software needs computing power to find patterns and make inferences from large quantities of data. The race is on between Intel, Nvidia and others to build AI chips for data centers, self-driving cars, robotics, smartphones, drones and other devices.....