Would you trust artificial intelligence to help you choose investments? A recent product launched by trading platform Sharesies promises to do just that, and to see if it can outmatch the time-honoured investing thesis of doing your own research, we put it through its paces.
Sharesies’ AI “discovery” tool lets investors search for any topic or industry they are interested in, generating a list of securities from the thousands of those listed on Australian, New Zealand and US sharemarkets that can be bought and sold on the platform.
One of the AI’s suggested investment areas was “space tourism”, such as Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. Credit: Virgin Galactic
The technology, AI Search, is provided by Australian start-up Telescope AI. It says it has a “continuous feedback loop in place to monitor the effectiveness of our guardrails and the rationality of AI Search’s responses”.
As well as being an education resource for those getting started in investing, it is also meant to help established investors look for ways to diversify their portfolios.
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The tool is a useful way of narrowing the field within a particular investment theme, such as investments that are “environmentally friendly” from the more than 8,000 companies and funds listed on sharemarkets in Australia, New Zealand and the United States that are available.
I asked the AI tool which Australian-listed investments are likely to benefit from the switch to electric vehicles. Unsurprisingly, it listed a couple of lithium miners – where lithium is a key component of batteries. It also listed exchange-traded funds (ETF), such as BetaShares Global Sustainability Leaders.
When I asked for US-listed investments it came up with Tesla, of course, but also ChargePoint Holdings Inc, which designs, develops, and markets networked electric vehicle charging systems.