Do you want to get a piece of the action in artificial intelligence (AI)?
As you’re probably aware, AI is one of the biggest trends in both technology and the economy these days, empowering people to get more done more quickly than was previously possible.
Clearly, there are opportunities to make money off of AI.
But if your field of expertise is not technology, then business or career opportunities are not obvious. Many people are trying to “vibe code” apps and start AI businesses these days, making the field very competitive. In the meantime, the job losses that were initially expected to his traditional professions due to widespread AI adoption, are not coming as quickly as was initially predicted.
So, you needn’t radically transform your career to get a piece of the AI pie.
You probably ought to think about how AI impacts your investments, though. The big U.S. stock indexes have considerable AI stock exposure, but that exposure is overwhelmingly concentrated in a few giant players. Your portfolio might be lacking adequate exposure to important AI-adjacent sub-sectors like memory, robotics, and chip manufacturing equipment. In this article, I’ll explore two exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that could help you get targeted AI exposure into your portfolio.
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Global X Robotics and Automation Index ETF
Global X Robotics and Automation Index ETF (TSX: RBOT) is a fund that invests in robotics and automation — fields that intersect with AI and could be considered part of the “AI opportunity set.” The fund is unique in that it focuses on a relatively small sliver of the AI space, a sliver that is not well represented by the “Magnificent Seven” big tech stocks. The stocks that it holds are comparatively small relative to the big AI cloud giants, so adding RBOT to your portfolio could have some diversification benefit.
RBOT is neither the cheapest nor the most liquid ETF an investor could own. It has a 0.69% management expense ratio (MER), about $66 million in net assets, and an average bid-ask spread of 0.30%. All of these numbers are associated with above-average levels of risk. Nevertheless, robotics is an important emerging opportunity. A small position in RBOT might make sense in the context of a well-diversified portfolio, though perhaps not as the number one position.
CI Global Artificial Intelligence ETF
Next up, we have CI Global Artificial Intelligence ETF (TSX: CIAI). This is a Canadian-listed ETF that invests in AI stocks from all over the world. Its mandate is much broader than that of RBOT. holds many of the big semiconductor and cloud computing names you’ve heard of. For this reason, the fund might not add a great diversification benefit to your portfolio if you’re already heavily invested in the NASDAQ-100 or even the S&P 500. However, the fund is definitely more of a “pure play” on AI than either of those indexes are. Therefore, the fund could be a good tool through which to overweight AI in your portfolio if you feel the broader markets are currently underappreciating the opportunity.
Foolish takeaway
AI is one of the biggest opportunities–and risks–in the world right now. Radically transforming entire industries, it has only just begun to show its promise. By investing in AI ETFs, you can get some financial exposure to the biggest technological revolution in decades. To that end, RBOT and CIAI are two funds that might offer something.
