AI in Earnings Calls: How the Largest Companies Are Talking About Generative AI

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming industries, consumer behavior, and the competitive landscape for the world’s largest companies. From digital assistants to the race to build the most powerful AI chips and platforms, companies are putting generative AI front and center.

By analyzing how five tech giants -- Apple (AAPL +0.38%), Nvidia (NVDA -0.79%), Microsoft (MSFT -1.45%), Alphabet (GOOG -2.13%), and Amazon (AMZN -2.08%) -- are discussing generative AI in their earnings calls from the end of December 2023 through September 2024, we can better understand the role AI plays in their visions for growth. Investors need to pay attention not just to how frequently AI is mentioned by company leaders but to the context and substance of those discussions.

By leveraging AI, we’ve revealed which areas each company is focused on when it comes to generative AI, offering investors insights into how the largest companies think about AI.

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What the largest companies talk about most when discussing AI

Here’s how the largest technology companies talked about AI in earnings calls from the quarter ending in December 2023 through the end of 2024. This is the percentage of AI mentions each company spent on various categories of AI topics:

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A few data points stand out.

Apple leads in product mentions by share of all its AI discussions, but the company has fewer AI products than the other technology firms analyzed. Apple’s AI product discussions centered mostly around Apple Intelligence and plans for integration into Apple’s app ecosystem. Meanwhile, Nvidia, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are all invested in a wider range of products throughout the AI tech stack, including various chips and accelerators, enterprise platforms, data centers, and more.

This suggests that Apple has a more narrow AI focus and might rely more on consumer-facing, brand-heavy AI applications to generate revenue than the other more diversified companies analyzed.

Nvidia had the most product mentions by overall count, which is a reflection of its companywide pivot to AI and investment across the entire AI tech stack.

Nvidia also had the most AI discussion involving bigger-picture strategy and investments and partnerships. This trend points to the company’s role as a foundational enabler in the AI ecosystem and suggests that its diverse partnerships, including with the other companies analyzed, could serve as a moat that helps it maintain market leadership.

All the companies analyzed had relatively limited discussion of the risks and obstacles associated with their AI plans. The discrepancy in risk mentions between Nvidia and Microsoft and the other three companies doesn’t necessarily mean the latter two are better prepared to confront potential barriers. Instead, it more likely suggests that each of these companies has taken a proactive, positive communications strategy to bolster its AI narratives for investors.

Another explanation may be that investors are more tuned in to risks associated with Nvidia and Microsoft given that the companies have publicly spoken about them in the past -- export controls in Nvidia’s case and supply bottlenecks in Microsoft’s.

Product and AI: Key Themes by Company

Apple: 42% of all AI mentions

Apple Intelligence: Apple Intelligence dominated Apple’s AI product mentions following its June 2024 unveiling, with features like visual intelligence, ChatGPT integration, and multilingual support set to release in coming months.
M4 Chip: Touted as best in class for AI.
Vision Pro: Prior to the unveiling of Apple Intelligence, most of Apple’s AI product mentions focused on Vision Pro’s spatial computing capabilities.

Nvidia: 28% of all AI mentions

Hopper: Nvidia’s workhorse GPU continues to see significant demand.
Blackwell: Announced in March 2024. Nvidia is bullish on Blackwell GPUs' ability to deliver more processing power for AI applications compared to Hopper.
Nvidia AI Enterprise suite: Focused on software improvements to improve enterprise applications.
Other products: Includes Nvidia DRIVE Thor for AI-powered autonomous vehicles, GeForce RTX GPUs, Nvidia Inference Microservices (NIMs), Omniverse Cloud, digital twin simulation technology, InfiniBand networking, and NVLink.

Microsoft: 34% of all AI mentions

Copilot integration: Integration into Microsoft 365, Github, Bing, Edge, Teams, and Dynamics 365.
Azure AI Enterprise: Highlighted Azure’s ability to scale AI workloads through custom and prebuilt models.
Hardware AI integration: AI chips built into Microsoft Surface devices to optimize Copilot.

Alphabet: 38% of all AI mentions

Search: AI features like AI overviews and visual querying via Lens. Emphasis on being able to better answer complex questions.
YouTube: Integrating AI to optimize generation of monetizable YouTube Shorts.
Android: Google products have integrated Gemini, bringing the generative AI model to roughly 2 billion users.
Upcoming generative AI products: Includes bringing generative AI features to Gmail, Google Photos, and Project Astra, a multimodal AI assistant.

Amazon: 30% of all AI mentions

AI shopping tools: Features include a shopping assistant called Rufus, virtual apparel try-ons, personalized shopping recommendations, review summaries, and generative AI listing tools.
Fulfillment centers: AI-driven quality control through Project Private Investigator.
AWS (Amazon Web Services): Bedrock and Q as generative AI tools for enterprise customers.

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AI Risks: Key Themes by Company

Apple: 3% of all AI mentions

Foreign regulation: Regulations in the European Union and China could slow the rollout of Apple Intelligence in those jurisdictions.

Nvidia: 9% of all AI mentions

Export controls: Regular concern over the evolving and increasingly restrictive U.S. export control regime, with an emphasis on limiting access to China.
Supply outpacing demand: Delivery constraints on next-gen products as demand exceeds supply.

Microsoft: 10% of all AI mentions

Capacity constraints: Consistent mention of AI inference demand outpacing Azure capacity, in part due to supply chain issues causing upgrades to be delayed.

Alphabet: 4% of all AI mentions

Overbuilding and capital expenditure: Google expects to increase spending on AI infrastructure in 2025 and sees some risk of overbuilding but would prefer that to underinvesting.

Amazon: 4% of all AI mentions

High costs: Large up-front infrastructure costs, including expensive hardware and accelerators, required before revenue is realized necessitates careful planning.

Why should investors care about how the largest companies discuss generative AI?

The way some of the largest companies in the world -- Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon -- discuss generative AI when revealing earnings reveals their priorities and vision.

Apple and Google mention AI most in the context of products. Nvidia and Amazon are the most likely of the group to talk about the sweeping market impacts they expect their AI offerings to generate. Microsoft and Nvidia most consistently mention risks their AI efforts face.

Zooming in, Apple is focused on privacy and use-centric features, while Nvidia is relentlessly driven to showcase and improve its full AI tech stack, from data centers to AI chips all the way to AI platforms it sees as usable in every industry. Microsoft and Google see massive opportunities in integrating AI into the tools most used by consumers. Amazon expects generative AI to transform its AWS offerings and generate billions in revenue.

These findings provide investors with nuance in how tech leaders see generative AI and where they might find the biggest returns or need to dig deeper into researching risks.

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Methodology

Data collection: We gathered earnings call transcripts from Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon from the quarter ending at the end of December 2023 through the end of September 2024.

Analysis: Using a large language model (LLM), we categorized AI mentions into five categories:

Product Development and Integration: AI usage in products, services, and enhancements
Strategic Initiatives: AI’s role in business strategy and market leadership
Investments and Collaborations: AI-related investments and partnerships
Market Impact: Effects of AI on market dynamics and consumer trends
Risk Factors: Technological, regulatory, competitive, and operational risks associated with AI

Classification: Mentions were identified in context of discussions rather than isolated terms. Discussions encapsulating multiple categories were counted in each category. Counts are based on thematic discussions, not individual mentions of “AI” or other related terms.

Validation: We reviewed categorization and description of mentions against earnings call transcripts to ensure accuracy.

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About the Author

Jack Caporal is the Research Director for The Motley Fool and Motley Fool Money. Jack leads efforts to identify and analyze trends shaping investing and personal financial decisions across the United States. His research has appeared in thousands of media outlets including Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, Bloomberg, and CNBC, and has been cited in congressional testimony. He previously covered business and economic trends as a reporter and policy analyst in Washington, D.C. He serves as Chair of the Trade Policy Committee at the World Trade Center in Denver, Colorado. He holds a B.A. degree in International Relations with a concentration in International Economics from Michigan State University.

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