New trends can be exciting for investors but don't always live up to the hype. Consider blockchain technology, which has lost its hold on the market. Omnichannel shopping, on the other hand, remains an integral part of successful retail.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the newest trend driving investor interest. It's been around for years, but generative AI is a newer technology that's making waves because of its human-like ability to generate ideas and content. Many of today's most popular stocks either contribute to the creation of generative AI or offer these services to clients.
Amazon (AMZN +0.63%) is in both categories. It's at the forefront of developing large learning models (LLMS) that create high-level generative AI and also offers many tools based on these LLMs to its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud services clients. It also uses AI across its business in many segments.
Amazon has minted plenty of millionaires since going public almost 30 years ago but remains a leader in innovation and technology. Owning Amazon stock in your portfolio can help on your path toward millionaire status.
AI in AWS
Amazon made a splash when it announced its new generative AI services for AWS last year. It now offers several AI tools to enhance AWS businesses, such as SageMaker and Code Whisperer.
Customers can customize Amazon's machine learning model or create their own with the company's foundation models. Amazon Bedrock lets users develop their own machine-learning models based on their data, and Code Whisperer lets developers insert prompts to create AI-generated code.
AWS' AI tools can build chatbots and virtual agents, find accurate information faster, customize applications for individual users, implement voice recognition, and more. For business operations, they can create forecasting models, detect data anomalies, and find code vulnerabilities more quickly.
Management said that it uses AWS' predictive capabilities in streaming Thursday Night Football. It can help determine which players are in positions to convert a first down or are likely to rush the quarterback.
NASDAQ: AMZN
Key Data Points
Other companies are launching their own competitive services, but Amazon is the largest cloud computing company, by far, with 32% of the market, according to Statista. Sales growth decelerated to 12% in the 2023 third quarter, but management said it's starting the see negative trends reverse and expecting higher momentum for AWS in the coming quarters. The company announced expanded partnerships with companies like BMW and Occidental Petroleum in the third quarter.
AI in e-commerce
Amazon uses AI throughout its e-commerce business to identify trends, manage inventory, and for product recommendations. The company has an extensive distribution network, with eight regional warehouses and multiple lines and delivery methods. It uses AI to determine the fastest and cheapest way to get out orders.
The company also offers generative AI tools to third-party merchants to create images, descriptions, and campaigns with prompts.
AI in advertising
Amazon offers similar services to advertisers so they can benefit from the company's large audience and data stores.
There's no better place than Amazon, with its years of machine learning and data points, to target shoppers who are already looking for what advertisers are providing. It also gives advertisers generative AI tools to create lifestyle images with just a picture and a prompt.
AI in smart devices
AI has always powered Amazon's smart home devices like Alexa and the Fire series. It has upgraded the technology to be able to figure out and meet more ambiguous requests and react to more natural conversation, instead of picking up specific phrases.
There's a lot more to come
CEO Andy Jassy said he thinks the AI opportunity will "be tens of billions of dollars of revenue for AWS over the next several years." AWS typically accounts for an outsized portion of Amazon's income. As its growth accelerates again, it should lead to higher profitability.
Amazon's stock price usually aligns with its income, and as AI leads to higher sales and income, the company's stock should gain. If you invest in Amazon stock today, it could be a part of a millionaire-maker stock portfolio.
