AI hype is fading, according to earnings calls
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The hype around artificial intelligence may be normalizing, according to company earnings calls over the past two quarters.
According to data compiled by Bloomberg and Apollo chief economist Torsten Sløk, the number of times that the words "AI," "machine learning," or "generative AI" were mentioned on earnings calls decreased from 517 instances in Q4 2023 to just 198 in Q1 2024. (Disclosure: Yahoo Finance is owned by Apollo Global Management.)
“The positive effects of technology continue to support firms, consumers and economic growth,” Sløk told Yahoo Finance over email. “The question is if AI is anything special. So far it looks like AI is not a revolution but just a continuation of the tech trend that started in the 1990s.”
Mentions of AI spiked at the end of 2022 after ChatGPT, a chatbot developed by OpenAI, launched on Nov. 30. By the first quarter of 2023, tech titan Microsoft (MSFT) announced it had reached a deal between Bing and ChatGPT. AI-related terms were mentioned 268 times on earnings calls that quarter.
By the second quarter of 2023, Microsoft continued profiting from AI investments while Google (GOOG, GOOGL) unveiled new generative AI products at its I/O conference in May. The number of AI mentions shot up to 532.
The peak was the third quarter of 2023 — by then, all the Big Tech companies had jumped into the AI fray, and the number of mentions hit 691.
Semiconductor giant Nvidia (NVDA) particularly benefited from investing in AI during this time, as the company reported a 206% year-over-year increase in revenue. In its earnings release, the company noted that its data center revenue drove the majority of the company’s growth that quarter as it continued unveiling new AI products.
The company has been on an upward trajectory since then. Earlier this week, Nvidia’s market cap surpassed that of both Alphabet and Amazon (AMZN) amid news that the semiconductor giant is constructing a new business unit to design chips for cloud computing firms and AI processors.
With analysts now seeing that all the major tech companies are testing out AI, the concept has become a reality. As this chart from Goldman Sachs shows, the total breadth of mentions involving AI was still at stratospheric highs as of Q4 2023 (even if the number of total mentions has declined).
The question now becomes, as Slok mentioned, whether AI is a true game changer or simply the natural progression of the internet age.
Daniel Howley contributed to this post.
This post was updated.
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Adriana Belmonte is a reporter and editor covering politics and healthcare policy for Yahoo Finance. You can follow her on Twitter @adrianambells and reach her at adriana@yahoofinance.com.