It's time to see whether AI is the new internet – or the next Metaverse

• The explosion of investor interest in artificial intelligence has been one of the biggest stories of 2023.
• But companies' shareholders care more about profits than anything else.

The sudden explosion of interest in ChatGPT has been one of the biggest stories for corporate America over the first half of 2023.

From massive conglomerates to tiny online florists, CEOs have turned the language bot into a buzzword in a bid to show that they're moving with the times as interest in artificial intelligence ramps up.

But eventually, companies will have to start showing their shareholders that the technology is going to help them make more money.

The second-quarter earnings season kicks off this week, starting a five-week period where investors get to see every S&P 500-listed firm's profits for the three months ending June 30.

Companies will have a chance to show that their increased spending on AI tech helped them make more money, over the quarter in which ChatGPT fully established itself in the public consciousness.

The early signs have been positive.

Semiconductor giant Nvidia became one of the AI boom's first winners when it released revenue forecasts that smashed Wall Street's targets, thanks to soaring demand for its chips.

Investors responded by loading up on its shares, propelling Jensen Huang's company to a $1 trillion valuation for the first time ever.

Zealots have used early success stories like Nvidia, Tesla, and other mega-cap names to argue that AI is like a new version of the internet – technology that outlasts a period of initial hype, and then transforms the way that business is done forever.

But for every dot-com boom there's so-called "disruptive tech" like crypto or the Metaverse – fads that end up losing companies money, rather than boosting their profits.

"The easy part is identifying this new technology that's breaking through," Jordan Stuart, a portfolio manager for Federated Hermes, told Insider. "But finding companies that can actually make money using this technology is going to be really difficult."

"Investors will say: 'Wow, this is a shiny new toy, but can I actually make money?'"

In other words, soon companies will have to show that AI can raise their profits like the internet did – or else it'll be consigned to the tech graveyard like the Metaverse was.