AI chatbots have gotten a ton of attention in recent months following the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT.
The technology, based on a large language model (LLM), has the ability to write code and essays and can pass high-level exams like those used in law, business, and medical schools. ChatGPT's owner, OpenAI, has partnered with Microsoft (MSFT -1.75%). The tech giant first formed a strategic partnership with OpenAI back in 2019 and has invested $13 billion in OpenAI, a sign of its confidence in the new AI chatbot.
However, ChatGPT is far from the only artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot on the market, and its launch sparked a parade of competitors, some of whom seemed to be waiting for such a moment to unveil their own LLMs.
In this article, we'll discuss what an AI chatbot is, review some AI chatbot stocks you can invest in, and explore whether you should invest in AI chatbot technology today. If you're wondering about the best AI chatbots, keep reading.
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What are AI chatbots?
What are AI chatbots?
A chatbot is an AI-based computer program that uses natural language processing to communicate with humans using texts. Chatbots are a common tool for customer service, internet search, and other routine tasks for internet users. Business also use AI chatbots internally to help automate workflows and other tasks.
Their utility has evolved in recent years as artificial intelligence has improved, and large language models have been trained to process complex questions and understand nuance. You can even make your own AI chatbot using the Python coding language.
As AI chatbots have improved, the market potential for the technology has increased, as can be seen in OpenAI's recent valuation at a reported $157 billion, with investors including Microsoft and Nvidia (NVDA -2.26%) participating in the $6.6 billion funding round.
With OpenAI demonstrating the capability of AI chatbots, investor interest in the technology has soared. Keep reading to see how you can get exposure to AI stocks in the chatbot space.
Five best AI chatbots to buy in 2025
| Company | Ticker | Market Cap | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft | (NASDAQ:MSFT) | $3.25 trillion | Diversified global tech leader. |
| Alphabet | (NASDAQ:GOOG), (NASDAQ:GOOGL) | $2.14 trillion | Global search leader and digital advertising giant. |
| Amazon | (NASDAQ:AMZN) | $2.29 trillion | Leader in e-commerce and cloud computing. |
| Baidu | (NASDAQ:BIDU) | $29.9 billion | Chinese internet search and autonomous vehicle company. |
| Meta Platforms | (NASDAQ:META) | $1.55 trillion | Social media giant. |
1. Microsoft
1. Microsoft
Through its partnership with OpenAI and ChatGPT, Microsoft appears to have jumped out to an early lead in the AI chatbot race.
The company is working quickly to integrate ChatGPT into a wide range of its products. That includes Azure, its cloud infrastructure service, the new Bing, and its Edge browser. It's also reportedly working on adding ChatGPT features to its Office suite, which includes products like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
However, Microsoft's biggest move in AI chatbots may be the launch of its own Copilot, a digital assistant available across Microsoft's applications.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said on multiple occasions that he sees AI as a platform shift, and the company has doubled down on its relationship with OpenAI after investing $13 billion in the startup over the years.
After his company missed out on the shift to mobile, Nadella is committed to not making the same mistake twice. Expect Microsoft to continue to spend aggressively on ChatGPT and other AI tools.
If you're looking to invest in ChatGPT, Microsoft gives you the most direct way to do so.
2. Alphabet
2. Alphabet
Alphabet has been investing in artificial intelligence for years. It acquired DeepMind, an AI research lab, in 2014, and it's spent billions on its autonomous vehicle division, Waymo.
After the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, Alphabet moved quickly to counter what seemed to be the most serious threat to Google Search yet, calling a "Code Red" meeting and bringing back founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page to formulate a strategy.
After some missteps, Google launched Gemini in December 2023. Gemini is available through Google's search bar.
It's unclear how Alphabet will monetize Gemini. Currently, it seems like a way for it to protect its monopoly on search, but it could help monetize traffic that doesn't generate ads.
3. Amazon
3. Amazon
Amazon hasn't found success with its own chatbot. The company has launched Amazon Q, a generative AI assistant, and Rufus, a shopping assistant.
However, Amazon is also a major investor in Anthropic, the maker of the chatbot Claude, which is considered by some to be the closest challenger to ChatGPT. In November 2024, Amazon said it would invest $4 billion in Anthropic after investing $4 billion in the company earlier in the year.
As part of that investment, Anthropic will use Amazon's Trainium and Inferentia chips to train its AI models.
Amazon has also invested in Bedrock, a managed cloud service in AWS that builds AI applications like chatbots.
4. Baidu
4. Baidu
Baidu is often known as the Chinese Google, and the company's move into AI chat shows that it has more than search in common with Alphabet.
In February 2023, Baidu joined the fray in AI chat, announcing that it would also launch its own chatbot that will serve as a complement to its search engine.
Known as ERNIE bot, the chatbot was released in March 2023. As of April 2024, the company said it had attracted 200 million users.
Baidu first began developing its language model in 2019, and the technology has advanced significantly since.
ERNIE was launched as a standalone application first but eventually will merge with its search engine, choosing chatbot-generated results rather than just links.
The company is also investing aggressively in other AI technologies like self-driving cars and semiconductors and sees artificial intelligence as a valuable growth market.
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5. Meta Platforms
5. Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms has invested significant resources in artificial intelligence as well, but most of that funding has gone toward recommendation AI, the algorithms that determine the content served to users on Facebook and Instagram.
More recently, the company launched LLaMa, an open-source large language model. Though LLaMa is not a chatbot, it powers Meta's chatbot, Meta AI, which is available across Meta's properties, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. Thanks to Meta's billions of users, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said earlier in 2024 that Meta AI was on track to be the most used AI assistant in the world by the end of the year.
Zuckerberg sees conversational and generational AI as a huge potential market, and the company plans to continue investing in chatbots and related areas.
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Should you invest?
Should you invest in AI chatbot technology?
AI chatbot technology is still in its early stages, but it seems clear from the billions being spent on the technology by the world's biggest tech companies that this will be a significant computing platform.
There's a wide range of applications for a product like ChatGPT. Its potential to disrupt internet search, a market worth hundreds of billions of dollars, shows the value of AI chat.
While picking a winner is difficult at this point, as several chatbots have already come out, it makes sense to get exposure to the technology, considering its potential. Like any emerging technology, investing in AI chatbots carries some risk, but many of the stocks above are already trading at reasonable valuations. If you're interested in investing in chatbot stocks, another option is to invest in an AI exchange-traded fund (ETF).
AI Chatbot FAQ
What is the smartest AI Chatbot?
Defining the smartest chatbot is a subjective issue since there are different criteria for measuring artificial intelligence. Some chatbots may be more capable than others, but there may also be others that are less inaccurate than others.
Additionally, a chatbot like the IBM Watson Assistant is competing in a different market from the search-focused bots.
However, based on overall measures and its ability to perform a broad range of tasks, ChatGPT seems to be the smartest chatbot on the market currently.
What is the fastest AI chatbot?
Determining the fastest AI chatbot is similarly difficult since speed depends on the question being asked. Some chatbots may be fast but not necessarily accurate, while others could come up with less useful answers than other chatbots.
It's worth noting that ChatGPT is the fastest-growing app of all time based on its user base, which reached 100 million just two months after the chatbot was launched.
Is there an AI I can talk to?
Several AI chatbots now have "voice mode," allowing users to talk to them, including ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Character AI.
We're likely to see more AI voice chatbots as voice assistants like Siri and Alexa are expected to add AI capabilities.
Additionally, the capabilities of voice chat assistants are likely to improve significantly as artificial intelligence gets better.
