(News Bulletin 247) – The conversational robot ChatGPT has sparked an outbreak on the stock market around artificial intelligence. A craze that also drives retail investors over 55, reports eToro.

Still unknown a few months ago, ChatGPT has become a real fashion phenomenon. With a formidable efficiency, the conversational robot of the American startup OpenAI breaks all the records of use thanks to its simplicity of use.

Each company uses its classified ad to integrate artificial intelligence into its activities. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba announced in February that it was working on setting up a competitor to ChatGPT. UBS bank estimated in a recent note that the total addressable market for generative AI could be worth $1 trillion.

It was enough for the enthusiasm around the conversational robot to be emulated among investors. And contrary to popular belief, young people are not the only population to be keen on new technologies. Baby boomers are also enthusiastically welcoming the rise of artificial intelligence and the planetary phenomenon around ChatGPT, Open AI’s conversational robot.

Baby boomers have thus become the most active investors in buying stocks evolving in artificial intelligence (AI) since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, reports the trading platform eToro. The share of retail investors aged 55 who have invested in AI stocks on the eToro platform has grown at a faster rate than any other age group.

“Young tech-savvy people are generally thought to be the ones embracing AI, but our data clearly shows that the frenzy around ChatGPT has spread across all age groups. On eToro, baby boomers are even embracing related actions to AI at a faster pace than their millennial counterparts and in doing so challenge many stereotypes around tech adoption,” comments Antoine Fraysse-Soulier, Head of Analytics markets for eToro.

In the first quarter of 2023, the proportion of over 55s who opened positions on one of these stocks increased by 60% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, against +41% for those aged 18-34 and +54% for 35-44 year olds. This attraction is even more marked in France, where 81% of 18-34 year olds and up to 93% of over 55s have opened positions in one of these same stocks, adds eToro.

C3.ai, Intel and Nvidia, the favorite trio of baby boomers

Three stocks have seen their ratings literally explode among the over 55s. These are the titles C3.ai which designs software in this field, Intel and NVIDIA, which record the largest increases in positions compared to the previous quarter within this age category.

Of the stocks in this universe, eToro notes that C3.ai is by far the fastest growing in terms of newly opened positions among the over 55s, with growth of 22,000%, around three times the rate growth observed for other age groups. C3.ai is one of many artificial intelligence companies that has seen a sharp rise in its stock since the start of 2023. Since January 1, it has gained 106%, a performance which, according to eToro, explains the staggering growth in the number of eToro users holding the stock.

The over 55s also turned to Intel, with a 93% jump in new positions opened quarter over quarter. Other stocks that have seen increased interest among older investors are Nvidia (91% growth in new positions) and SentinelOne (84% growth).

AI rather than a human fund manager

The broker eToro also returns to the figures of its latest quarterly barometer of individual investment from a global survey of 10,000 individual investors in 13 countries. According to this survey, a considerable number of over 55s are ready to integrate AI and machine learning into their investment approach.

Thus, according to this barometer around one in six investors aged over 55 (17%) say they intend to increase their investments in sectors likely to benefit from AI, while only 5% say they are reducing their allocation. to these sectors. Additionally, almost half (46%) of this age group would use AI or machine learning to manage their portfolio rather than a human fund manager.

“In addition to being increasingly easy to invest in, AI has the potential to play a central role in the strategy of retail investors. By enabling them to analyze large amounts of data, generate new insights and investing and overcoming human biases, AI has the potential to tip the balance more in favor of retail investors in the future,” concludes Antoine Fraysse-Soulier.