Hello,

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) trend has reemerged in recent months, helping to pick the market back up from its April lows. Investors retain high hopes for both its revenue-generating and cost-cutting potential within firms. While we are still in the early stages of AI development and quite a distance from knowing its full capabilities, there have been some recent signs of increased integration in the workplace.

 

During Meta’s AI Innovation Event ‘LlamaCon’ back in April, Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella sat down for a quick heart-to-heart on everything AI. When asked how much of Microsoft’s code was now being written by software, Nadella estimated it was approximately 20-30%. This matched the estimate that rival CEO Sundar Pichai gave in Google’s Q1 earnings call. Furthermore, when Nadella returned the question to Zuckerberg, the Meta CEO said he didn’t know (perhaps an indication of integration in itself) but has previously predicted that 100% of the company’s code will be AI-generated within 18 months.

 

However, these estimates should be taken with a pinch of salt. None of the CEOs went into detail on what exactly constitutes ‘AI generated code’ or how much labour this was saving. Moreover, as bellwethers of the AI rally it is certainly within their interest to exaggerate its utility. Still, the estimates are large enough to garner attention, and it is certain that AI will continue as a material market narrative for the foreseeable future.

 

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