Ivan Tsarynny, Feroot Security CEO, joined CNBC’s ‘The Exchange’ to discuss his Congressional testimony about TikTok. According to Tsarynny, China is collecting information on Americans through applications such as TikTok to train AI. This training is being done in hopes of helping them win the AI race. He said that TikTok is present in a lot of websites and places where it can obtain information on Americans who don’t even use the app. He also said that it is required under Chinese law to disclose data when requested and that companies that are required to share the information may also need to keep it confidential so we may not even know that the data was shared with the CCP.
READ NOW: 10 Trending AI Stocks on Latest News and Ratings and Top 10 AI Stocks on Wall Street’s Radar
This is probably why the Supreme Court said that the application needs to be divested considering that it may be collecting information on Americans and diverting it to China. When asked whether Tiktok is the only application that is suspected of doing so, he said that Tiktok is probably the biggest application, but not the only one. Tsarynny also said that the kind of information being collected includes everything you do on the app and anything it might be able to access on the phone. Another area is data collection on websites where tracking pixels collect your details. While not easy or commonly done, users can use privacy browser extensions or tools to block pixel trackers and other tracking tools.
Banned for a short period over data security concerns, TikTok began restoring its services on Sunday after President-elect Donald Trump said he would revive the app’s access in the U.S. after he returns to power, which is today, January 20th. In response, TikTok thanked Trump for “providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties (for) providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive”. This gratitude comes at a tense moment in US-China relations.
Amidst all these events, U.S. search engine startup Perplexity AI also submitted a bid on Saturday, January 18, to TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance. The bid suggested Perplexity to merge with TikTok U.S., creating a new entity by combining the merged company with New Capital Partners. The company believes that its bid may be successful since the proposal is a merger rather than a sale.
For this article, we selected AI stocks by going through news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. These stocks are also popular among hedge funds.
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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
A technician operating a robotic arm on a production line of semiconductor chips.
10. Bloom Energy Corporation (NYSE:BE)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 25
Bloom Energy Corporation (NYSE:BE) develops solid-oxide fuel cell systems for on-site power generation. On January 16, Truist raised the firm’s price target on Bloom Energy (BE) to $22 from $11 but maintained a “Hold” rating on the shares. The rating was issued as part of a broader research note related to the 2025 outlook for the firm’s Energy Transition/Sustainability sector. According to the firm, policy changes from the Trump administration aren’t going to be as harmful as currently implied by group multiples, but it still chooses to be “highly selective” into the first 100 days of the new government. Particularly for Bloom Energy, the firm indicates strong demand from data centers and associated higher trading multiples. At the same time, it also believes that expanding in the data center market is going to take time and isn’t going to be without potential near-term headwinds.
9. Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 43
Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) is a leading provider of artificial intelligence systems. On January 16, The Information reported that Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) is in discussions with Shield AI, a maker of drones and software, to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in a new fundraising round. This potential investment supports Palantir’s strategic focus on strengthening its AI capabilities, particularly in the defense sector. The San Diego-based startup will likely be valued at around $5 billion. According to the Financial Times, Venture capital firms such as Andreessen Horowitz, Point72, and Riot Ventures are also anticipated to take part in the investment.