MANDAN, N.D. (KFYR) – When discussing artificial intelligence, many people talk about robots, the tools they use, and how AI is becoming a part of our everyday lives. What doesn’t get talked about is the companies behind them and how they are shaping the world of investing.

Wealth advisors like David Wald handle tens of millions of dollars in assets for their clients.

Wald uses artificial intelligence tools to track the performance of stocks and investment funds. He often looks to see how they performed during major events like the 2008 housing crisis, oil booms and busts and the pandemic.

That said, Wald firmly believes that AI algorithms should never fully replace human interaction.

“You’re not going to sit in front of a client who just lost their spouse and just put an AI program on and go, this is what you need to do. You still need that personal relationship because this is the most important relationship they’ll have. You’re dealing with their life’s work,” said Wald.

The money Wald and his team handle is also financial safety blankets and retirement funds, like 401Ks. So could AI improve the performance of retirement accounts?

“You go to sign up for your company’s 401K. Somebody hands you a list of funds and says sign up and you’ve never done it in your life. You have no clue what this is. Hopefully, the 401Ks then become better in design so that people can’t hurt themselves no matter what they select,” said Wald.

When it comes to investing in AI companies, is the boom sustainable?

Wald said in the long run, yes, because top AI companies, like Apple, Meta and Nvidia, are diversified, but ups and downs are inevitable.

“It’s kind of like going to the casino hoping that on the roulette wheel, that if you bet on black, that black hits. You’ve got to give it time to work,” said Wald.

Wald believes AI is a valuable investing tool to educate oneself on the market.

To add to the AI stock market craze, Anthropic and OpenAI, the companies behind popular artificial intelligence chat and research bots, Claude and ChatGPT, are expected to join the stock market later this year.

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