Swift Ventures today launched a brand new index for artificial intelligence companies, which helps investors distinguish between publicly listed companies that genuinely invest in AI technology and those that merely discuss AI during earnings calls. The venture capital firm analyzed thousands of earnings reports, hiring data, and research contributions by fine-tuning large language models, discovering that while companies mentioned AI over 16,000 times in their earnings reports last quarter, only a handful actually made significant investments.
The index currently tracks around 90 companies, scoring them based on three main indicators: investment in AI research and open-source contributions, AI talent density, and revenue generated from AI operations. Data shows that companies meeting the index criteria had an annual growth rate of 37% over the past three years, far surpassing the Nasdaq and S&P 500 growth rates of 12% and 19%, respectively, during the same period.
Image Source Note: Image generated by AI, image licensed from Midjourney
Notably, there is a strong positive correlation between AI research and profitability. Brett Wilson, co-founder of Swift Ventures, pointed out that companies that regularly contribute to AI research and open-source models have an average gross profit that is double that of tech companies not investing in these areas, at 55% compared to 25%.
Additionally, the index reveals a significant shortage of AI talent. Despite many companies claiming to adopt AI, only about 200 publicly listed companies have more than 1% of their workforce in AI-specific roles. This metric has become particularly important as the demand for AI engineers surges.
Swift Ventures also discovered that some lesser-known companies have made significant investments in AI, such as Doximity, which develops AI medical writing applications, and Leidos, which focuses on defensive autonomous systems. These companies have growth rates exceeding 50%, demonstrating that AI transformation has extended beyond large tech firms.
In the future, Swift Ventures plans to update the index quarterly and is considering launching an ETF in 2025 to meet investor demand. The firm aims to disrupt the existing AI investment landscape through programmatic scoring rather than individual stock selection. This index is expected to become the industry standard for evaluating AI investments, influencing how companies allocate resources for AI research and development, and providing investors with clear criteria to assess AI capabilities.
