The new fund, with ticker CHAT, aims to invest in companies focused on conversational AI

A new exchange-traded fund (ETF) called the Conversational AI, AI and Innovation ETF has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, seeking to invest in global stocks connected with artificial intelligence, specifically in “conversational” AI and innovation. Appropriately, the new ETF would trade under the ticker CHAT. (Bloomberg)

The ETF is clearly seeks to capitalize on the success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which has attracted a million users since its release in November, though the ETF has a more expansive coverage of AI:

• machine learning – learning a new task without being specifically programmed to do it,
• deep learning – learning by example,
• natural language processing – understanding human language text or speech,
• computer vision – interpreting and understanding the visual world (e.g., distinguishing faces), and
• expert systems – which simulate the judgment and behavior of humans with expertise in a particular field (e.g., medicine).

It also mentions in the filing that AI has a wide range of applications, such as self-driving cars, speech recognition, image recognition, natural language understanding, decision-making, and many more.

On Conversational AI, the filing for CHAT details as follows:

• A set of technologies that enable automated messaging and speech-enabled application, including chatbots, that offer human-like interactions between computers and humans.
• Conversational AI systems that can communicate like a human by recognizing speech and text, understanding intent, deciphering different languages, and responding in a way that mimics human conversation.
• Conversational AI applications that use large volumes of data, machine learning, and natural language processing to help imitate human interactions, recognizing speech and text inputs and translating their meanings across various languages and systems.

The track record of AI ETFs is nothing spectacular, however. The $1.7 million WisdomTree Artificial Intelligence and Innovation Fund (WTAI), which was launched in December 2021, is down 27% since inception.

Although the new fund CHAT (from Tidal Financial Group) may struggle, according to some analysts, conversational AI is expected to be an important investment theme for years to come, and this is not the first AI-focused ETF to be launched.

Related Story:  OpenAI Launches ChatGPT, A New Conversational AI System

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