We recently published a list of Top 9 AI Stocks Making Waves Today. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) stands against other top AI socks making waves today.

The prospect of artificial intelligence dominating every aspect of human life is no longer a farfetched dream but a harsh reality. Advances around the revolutionary technology already provide clear insights into what to expect, even as Bill Gates insists humans will no longer be needed “for most things” in the future.

The remarks come as the artificial intelligence market is projected to hit the $3.6 trillion mark by 2034, up from $638.23 billion in 2024. According to Precedence Research, the market is growing at a 19.1% compound annual growth rate driven by rapid advancements in technology, increasing data availability, and a burgeoning demand for automation across various industries.

While human expertise dominates various industries, from healthcare to education and industries, things will change significantly with the development and deployment of advanced AI solutions. In a world of free intelligence, Gates forecasts that people will get great medical advice and tutoring, among others, through AI-powered solutions.

“With AI, over the next decade, that will become free, commonplace — great medical advice, great tutoring,” Gates said.

According to Gates, the outcome will be swift advancements in AI-powered technology that are available and affect almost every part of our lives, from readily accessible AI tutors and virtual assistants to better medications and diagnoses.

The question of how exactly the majority of people will fit into an AI-powered future is still up for dispute. According to some analysts, artificial intelligence (AI) will boost economic growth and create more jobs by making human labor more efficient rather than completely replacing it.

Others, such as Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, argue that further technology developments over the coming years would alter the nature of most occupations in almost every field and have a “hugely disruptive” effect on the labor force.

“These tools will only temporarily augment human intelligence,” Suleyman wrote in his book “The Coming Wave,” which was published in 2023. “They will make us smarter and more efficient for a time, and will unlock enormous amounts of economic growth, but they are fundamentally labor replacing.”

Nevertheless, Gates insists there are certain jobs that artificial intelligence will never replace. Additionally, the billionaire investor is overly optimistic that artificial intelligence will give rise to breakthrough innovations such as game-changing treatments for deadly diseases and solutions that address long-running challenges such as climate change.

To create this list, we reviewed the latest AI-focused news reports, press releases, and stock analysis. We have also mentioned the hedge fund sentiment around each stock, as of Q4 2024.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

A close-up of a person using a laptop with cloud solutions in the background.

Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 37

Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) is a technology company providing cloud computing, security, and content delivery services, helping businesses build, deliver, and secure digital experiences. On March 27, the company unveiled Akamai Cloud Inference, affirming a push for opportunities in the artificial intelligence deployment landscape.

The new cloud offering is designed to make it easier for organizations to turn predictive and large language models into real-world actions. Akamai Cloud Inference offers 3X better throughput, 60% less latency and 86% cost savings, therefore delivering improvements in AI inference performance. The solution leverages 4,200 points of presence across 1200 networks to present AI inference closer to end users and data sources. Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) is aiming for the bigger, more sustainable part of the AI value chain, where ongoing use creates steady revenue streams, by concentrating on the operational phase of AI rather than training.

Overall, AKAM ranks 4th on our list of top AI socks making waves today. While we acknowledge the potential of AKAM as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AKAM but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.