Hot topics come and go. In the last few quarters, numerous companies from a wide variety of industries are mentioning generative artificial intelligence on their earnings calls. In their Q1 earnings calls of this year, 12 real estate companies, 11 utility companies and 6 consumer staples companies mentioned generative AI. One could question how impactful this technology will be for their respective businesses. At the peak of blockchain mentions in the first quarter of 2022, 3 real estate companies, 8 utility companies and 2 consumer staples companies mentioned the technology on their earnings calls. Since then, chatter about it has trended down. Obviously, whether companies mention a technology on earnings calls doesn’t necessarily correlate with how the technology is developing and how some companies might profitably use it.
Source: Bloomberg, March 2024.