Shelby McFaddin, investment analyst at Motley Fool Asset Management, spoke with Quartz for the latest installment of our “Smart Investing” video series.
Watch the interview above and check out the transcript below. The transcript of this conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
ANDY MILLS (AM): Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, all these big tech companies have seen tremendous growth in recent years because of AI. Do you think that this enthusiasm for AI is going to continue into the second half of the year?
SHELBY MCFADDIN (SM): I think where we are right now could and should be sustained unless there’s a significant external force. Whether it’s a macro situation that really hits Nvidia or something really devastating to Apple’s top line, etc. Unless there’s a major change in their outlook, I wouldn’t be surprised to see that continue. I’m not sure another six months is enough time to see anything accelerate significantly unless there’s some real innovation. Because the truth, from my perspective, is that we’re in a waiting period where we’re still waiting for some companies to show us what they’re doing with these new capabilities. And so unless they haven’t announced anything yet and they’ve been working on it for a while, I’m not sure that the second half of the year alone is going to warrant any major announcements that would further rationalize an increase in these valuations. So I think we’re pretty much where we’re going to be for the year, but who knows? They might surprise.
AM: Yeah, that’s a good point. I feel like everyone is thinking AI is cool, let’s do it and you’ll see!
SM: We’ve all acclimated to the water temperature now, so the question is will it stay lukewarm or will anyone make a splash?
AM: Yeah, sure. I mean, like Apple’s recent announcement about artificial intelligence, it seemed like the logical and smart move for them to integrate that technology. But it wasn’t surprising.
SM: That’s true, because there’s also a difference between a new offering and a new feature. When you think about Apple’s features, they’ve been at a high level for a long time, so no one is surprised because it seems like something they should be able to do. So it’s not shocking. There are parts of the process that are proprietary and won’t be easily copied per se. But there are other parts that other companies can copy. You know, integrating user profiles across platforms is certainly not new. We’ve seen in data clean rooms a great example of that integration and why companies have been looking for it for a long time. Creating some kind of anonymous identifier for a consumer has been sought for a long time now.
