Professional Investors Convinced AI ‘Breakthrough’ Is Close

Professional Investors Convinced AI ‘Breakthrough’ Is Close

Almost all believe increased computational power will drive breakthrough on AI capabilities this year

AI productivity gains should drive around 22% of global growth this year, Robocap research finds

Sept 03: Professional investors are convinced increased computational power will lead to a breakthrough in AI capabilities this year, new global research1 with institutional investors and wealth managers managing assets of $513 billion from leading fund manager Robocap shows.

The study with senior executives at insurance asset managers, pension funds, family offices and wealth managers found almost all (96%) believe that the expected 10 times increase in computational power being applied by the big five US model developers to current AI models will deliver a breakthrough in what AI can achieve.

That will translate into increased global growth this year, the research from Robocap, the leading investor in robotics, automation and AI, found. On average professional investors surveyed believe productivity gains from AI this year will account for 22% of global growth.

In three years’ time the percentage of productivity gains and global growth attributable to AI will increase to an average 30%, the study found. Around one in five questioned believe the increase could be 40% or more.

The impact of increased AI capabilities will be felt first by marketing and sales, the survey found, with 31% predicting the sector will be the first in line for disruption followed by services such as law, finance, accounting and tax which was ranked first by 29%.

The research with firms based in the UK, US, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany and Switzerland found around one in five (20%) highlighted IT as first in line while 9% pointed to transportation and 7% to healthcare and 6% to industrials and consumer goods.

Real estate and utilities are seen as the sectors likely to be disrupted last by AI and robotics. Around 28% said real estate would be among the last to be disrupted followed by 20% choosing utilities and 11% selecting materials.

Jonathan Cohen, Founder and CIO at Robocap, said: “The advance in AI capabilities over the past few years has been phenomenal as major model firms have increased the computational power used to train their models year on year.

“This year it is estimated that the computational power being applied by the big five American model developers to train their next model will actually be up to 30 times more relative to the compute power current model and investors are convinced that the world is on the verge of a breakthrough in terms of AI capabilities considering weekly progresses.

“That is translating into real world effects with the productivity gains from AI making major contributions to global growth which are expected to increase over the coming years.”

The Robocap UCITS Fund, which is a thematic equity fund focusing on pure-play robotics, automation and AI listed stocks globally, was launched in January 2016 and is managed by a London based specialist team. It has delivered compound annualised net returns (CAGR) of 15.38% and a net return of 359.95% since its inception.