Artificial intelligence (AI)-driven tools and technology have fast gained popularity globally in the last year. While the launch of Microsoft-backed Open AI’s ChatGPT platform slightly less than a year ago has played a key role in popularizing it, the real-world potential applications of AI technology are nearly endless and not just limited to text generation. AI technology, besides many other areas of our lives, is expected to transform the way we communicate, learn, travel, and work in the future.
Its vast applicability is the key reason that helps distinguish AI from other short-term technological trends. That’s why the companies investing heavily in AI these days have the potential to hugely benefit from this emerging trend. Considering that, it could be wise for investors to add some quality Canadian AI stocks to their portfolios now and hold them for at least the next five years.
In this article, I’ll highlight two of the most attractive AI stocks you can buy on the TSX today.
BlackBerry stock
BlackBerry (TSX:BB) is my first Canadian AI stock pick that you can consider buying right now to hold for the next five years. It’s an enterprise software company that primarily focuses on providing innovative cybersecurity solutions to businesses. The company currently has a market cap of $ 3.5 billion, as its stock trades at $5.91 per share with about 34% year-to-date gains.
Earlier in August 2023, BlackBerry announced a major update for its patented next-generation AI engine called Cylance AI engine, which was originally launched nearly seven years ago. The latest update enhances its Cylance AI engine’s predictive cybersecurity capabilities, giving the company an edge in the AI-supported predictive cyberdefence field. You can expect the demand for such advanced cybersecurity solutions to increase significantly in the coming years as a large number of organizations across the world are struggling to keep their data safe online and avoid cyberattacks.
Besides that, BlackBerry also utilizes machine learning and AI technologies in its IoT (Internet of Things) offerings, including its intelligent vehicle data platform BlackBerry IVY.
Shopify stock
The recent popularity of AI technology has also attracted Shopify’s (TSX:SHOP) attention. That’s one of the key reasons why the Ottawa-headquartered e-commerce platform provider is increasingly utilizing the power of AI to make its platform more attractive for merchants as well as end customers.
In April this year, the company introduced Shopify Magic, an AI-powered tool that aims to help merchants easily write more appealing and accurate product descriptions. Besides its proprietary data, such as anonymized customer interactions, purchase patterns, and store performance, Shopify’s AI model is also trained on OpenAI’s ChatGPT APIs (application programming interface).
Later in July, Shopify announced over a hundred updates for its platform, keeping its key focus on AI technology. With this, the company announced Sidekick, its upcoming AI-enabled commerce assistant. Shopify claims that Sidekick will make it easier for merchants to start and run their stores on its platform by providing them with useful business data insights and necessary knowledge to grow their businesses.
At the time of writing, Shopify stock was trading at $71.99 per share with nearly 53% year-to-date gains. But it was still off more than 65% from its all-time highs.
