A.I. mentions in earnings calls skyrocket this season. What executives are saying

Published Mon, May 1 20232:46 PM EDTUpdated Mon, May 1 20233:42 PM EDT

Executives at some of America's largest companies are increasingly focused on artificial intelligence — and it's a theme that expands beyond the boundaries of Big Tech. AI has surged in popularity this year as the launch of chatbots opened the floodgates for regular people to better understand and interact with machine-learning technology. Leaders at the largest publicly listed companies in the U.S. are reporting using the technology to improve services ranging from advertising to customer service to curbing credit card theft. And some have noted they've been using AI for years, putting them ahead of competitors as the corporate appetite for the technology grows. More companies in the S & P 500 have mentioned AI in calls with analysts in the first half of this earnings season than any prior quarter in the past several years, according to data analyzed by CNBC. Bank of America's Savita Subramanian also noted that AI mentions are currently up more than 85% from the year-earlier quarter, with additional mentions expected from companies that have yet to report. This trend is becoming especially more prominent in Big Tech. "Across the company, we are excited about helping people, businesses and society reach their full potential with AI," Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai told analysts last week. The Google parent company launched Bard, an AI-powered conversational chatbot, this year, while management noted it has used a form of AI for over a decade in its advertising business. "Our investments and breakthroughs in AI over the last decade have positioned us well," Pichai said at a different point in the call with analysts. As of last Friday afternoon, with half of S & P 500 companies having reported earnings, about one-quarter had mentioned AI at one point in their quarterly calls with analysts. That's the largest share of companies to mention the technology since at least 2016. By comparison, less than 5% of companies mentioned AI in analyst calls held during the first quarter of 2016. In turn, AI's growing emphasis in corporations and broader culture have led some investing pros to consider it a bright spot against a challenged macroeconomic backdrop. The Global X Artificial Intelligence & Technology ETF (AIQ) has rallied more than 18% this year, outperforming both the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite and the broader S & P 500. But some have questioned whether stocks feeling AI tail winds can keep up the steam of this year's rally. Big Tech mentions jump AI has been a growing theme in Big Tech as companies try to capitalize on the wave following last year's steep sell-off. In calls from Big Tech companies alone, AI was mentioned 265 times. That's more than 17 times the number of mentions it got during calls held in the first quarter of 2016. Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on the company's call with analysts last week that AI recommendations of content from people a user doesn't follow now account for more than 20% of content in their Facebook and Instagram feeds. That's driven a more than 24% increase in time spent on Instagram, he said, with monetization efficiency of Reels, its short-form video platform, up more than 30% on Instagram and 40% on Facebook compared with the prior quarter. Meta has led the AIQ charge this year, with shares nearly doubling since the beginning of the year (though Meta still trades below where it ended 2021 due to the depth of 2022's sell-off). Nvidia , a chipmaker largely considered a major beneficiary of the AI buzz, followed closely with a more than a 98% jump. Elsewhere in Big Tech, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said more AI is coming to the company's Power Platform app suite, and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said part of the investments in its cloud service, Amazon Web Services, will be in integrating generative AI and large language models. "In my opinion, few folks appreciate how much new cloud business will happen over the next several years from the pending deluge of machine learning that's coming," Jassy said on his call with analysts last Thursday. The 'tip of the spear' This isn't just a tail wind for marquee technology names. At medical device company ResMed , AI-driven coaching features will be introduced for its patient management system and patient portal in the next several quarters. CEO Michael Farrell said it's part of a goal of getting some customers to increase engagement. "Our share is not only going to stay where it is, but have the chance to grow from that because we are the market leader in this," he said on a call with analysts Thursday. "No one's investing like we are in cloud compute. No one's investing like we are in analytics, in AI and ML, and engagement with patients and physicians and providers. And we're not doing it alone. We're doing it with the ecosystem, with the patients. We're listening to them, with the physicians and with the providers." AT & T CEO John Stankey said the telecom giant is in early AI-testing trials to improve fleet dispatches for field technicians. He also said the company is using the technology to better connect customers with the correct type of support, while noting AT & T is at the "tip of the spear of what's possible." Some execs on calls said they have already seen results. Citigroup and Visa both mentioned using AI to improve fraud identification to help reduce operating losses, with Visa noting that AI blocked $7 billion in attempted transactions in one month for one client. And executives at real estate company UDR said its AI chat has a 10% higher closing rate than normal call centers. "Customers are embracing it, so it must be working," UDR CEO Thomas Toomey said on the company's Friday call with analysts. Early adopters To be sure, some executives emphasized their company's long-standing use of AI. Though S & P 500 earning calls thus far show a likely multiyear record for the number of companies discussing AI at almost 25%, that share was near 20% in the fourth quarter of 2021. Interpublic Group of Companies CEO Philippe Krakowsky noted the advertising company brought on a chief AI officer two years ago. And ServiceNow operating chief Chirantan Desai said the company has already used the technology for multiple years, but he's "very optimistic" that it could noticeably help the company's top line over the next three to five years. Google parent Alphabet, meanwhile, was one company whose executives said that early adoption of the technology has helped them get ahead of the wave of interest. Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach noted during a call on Thursday that the company has used AI "for the better part of the last decade, so it's embedded in a whole range of our products." He said the company is focused on finding more ways to implement AI is a "principled way," noting employees are allowed to experiment within "clear guardrails" and outside of actual production. Miebach's comments come amid increasing scrutiny over the ethics of AI, with some tech leaders and others calling for a pause in the development of advanced systems like those that can compute with human intelligence. "It's something that we cannot afford to ignore. We will not," Miebach said. "We will lean in but make sure that we are a trusted party when it comes to scaling it up."