BuzzFeed Stock Jumps 92% As Employees Fret That AI Will Replace Them

Shares of the digital media company BuzzFeed Inc. BZFD jumped 92% in one trading day after The Wall Street Journal broke the news of the company’s plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) programs to create quizzes and other content for readers. 

And that was just one trading day. All told, shares of BuzzFeed finished the week 300% higher, and intense interest in AI also boosted shares of companies that are just starting to dabble with the technology. Shares of the Chinese search company Baidu Inc. BIDU jumped 13% on Monday on the news that it’s building an AI search engine to compete with AI chatbot ChatGPT. Another AI firm, SoundHound AI Inc. SOUN has jumped over 100% since mid-January. 

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Last week also brought news of Microsoft Corp.’s decision to invest $10 billion in OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. This explosion in interest in artificial intelligence comes on the heels of a report forecasting that the global AI market will total $1.39 trillion by 2029. That would mean an average annual growth rate of over 20%.

AI has already reshaped the economy by helping companies cut down on inefficiencies. For example, airlines have used machine learning since 2017 to help predict how many seats they can sell without overbooking, and Chick-fil-A used AI to help ensure its waffle fries are baked on a schedule to maximize freshness when served. But inefficiencies in AI itself are rampant as the relatively new technology goes through the growing pains and adjustments seen by every revolutionary industry before it.

An example of this is AI’s contribution to marketing. Some senior advertisers now say that AI programs are at least as competent as their first-year marketing employees at generating pitches — but as much as $75 billion each year is being wasted on ineffective marketing campaigns. One startup has set out to solve this problem by translating marketing gibberish into plainspoken, human-sounding copy that resonates. 

Founded in 2015, RAD AI is the world’s first marketing platform built to understand human emotion. It’s already growing revenue at a pace of 310% year-over-year, and for a limited time, investors can claim shares of this private company here. 

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