Why A.I. Is The Most Hopeful Story in a Generation

Investors are wired to search for edges. However, lately, many are searching for shelter, bracing for higher-for-longer rates, geopolitical rifts, and fiscal cliffs with no clear bottom. But buried in the macro noise is one of the most hopeful stories of our era: artificial intelligence.

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What the Market Might Be Missing About AI

We’ve heard the fear narratives… mass unemployment, human obsolescence, machines taking over. But that’s not the full picture. According to Jim Bianco, who joined me on a recent pod, the AI story, much like past technological revolutions, isn’t just about disruption. It’s about reinvention.

In The Beginning of Infinity, physicist David Deutsch points out that humans have always feared new inventions. We’ve always underestimated what’s possible. But history shows us that every time new knowledge emerges, it expands our idea of what can be achieved. Every single time. AI is simply the next chapter in that same story. And as new discoveries show up daily, our perspective is shifting, from anxiety to imagination and inventiveness.

Bianco explained that while AI may eliminate roles like “driver,” it will give rise to industries we can’t yet name. Picture driverless cars slashing the cost of transport, unlocking entire ecosystems of on-demand logistics, hyperlocal manufacturing, or personalized delivery systems. With every labor-saving breakthrough, something else gets built.

Look back to 1979. The electronic spreadsheet was expected to wipe out accounting clerks, and it did. But it also created a new class of professionals whose income was much higher: financial analysts. Entire sectors emerged from being able to model and project data at scale. AI will do the same, only on a much broader canvas.

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The Greatest Investment Theme Since the Internet?

Bianco explained that the moment AI becomes decentralized, when anyone, not just trillion-dollar firms, can harness its power — that’s when innovation goes vertical and investors will see parabolic returns. That’s when the next generation of companies, the ones we haven’t heard of yet, start changing the world.

It’s not just hopeful for founders and investors, though. It’s hopeful for workers, too. The jobs AI threatens may not disappear, but they will evolve. And if history is any guide, they’ll evolve into higher-value, more creative roles. That’s a net win for society.

So while rate hikes and inflation dominate today’s headlines, the real underpriced asset may be optimism, especially about AI. And for investors willing to look past the noise, optimism about AI might just be the smartest position in the portfolio.