Market uncertainty aside, the AI race is tighter than ever. A report by Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI) states that not only has the battlefield become tighter, but also more crowded than previously. The report notes that Google and OpenAI are neck to neck in the race to build cutting-edge AI, and that other companies are fiercely closing in. Meta, Anthropic, and Elon Musk’s xAI are a few of these names. Chinese competitors are also closing in on the AI race. In particular, DeepSeek’s R1 model is very close to the top-performing models of two of the leading AI companies.
“It creates an exciting space. It’s good that these models are not all developed by five guys in Silicon Valley. Chinese models are catching up as far as performance to the US models..but across the globe, there are new players emerging in the space.”
– Vanessa Parli, director of research at HAI.
In recent news, OpenAI has launched its new AI model GPT-4.1, along with smaller versions GPT-4.1 mini and GPT-4.1 nano. These models boast major improvements in coding, instruction following, and long context comprehension.
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According to OpenAI, the models outperform the company’s most advanced GPT-4o model across the board and are available only on OpenAI’s application programming interface (API). In particular, the GPT-4.1 brags a 21% improvement over GPT-4o and 27% over GPT-4.5 on coding. Moreover, there are improvements in instruction following and long context comprehension, which make these models a better choice for powering AI agents.
“Benchmarks are strong, but we focused on real-world utility, and developers seem very happy.”
-OpenAI
OpenAI also noted that these models operate at a “much lower cost” compared to GPT-4.5, and that the company would turn off the GPT-4.5 preview that is available in the API in July because the new models offer “improved or similar performance.”
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10. Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 63
Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) is a leading provider of artificial intelligence systems. On April 14, Wedbush reiterated its “Outperform” rating on the stock with a 12-month price target of $120. The firm believes that NATO’s acquisition of Palantir’s AI-powered military system places it in a key position for more contract wins in the future.
“While the terms of the deal were not disclosed and is set to be operational within the next 30 days, this was another win for Karp & Co. as more federal customers turn to PLTR for improved AI capabilities on the military front which is starting to heat up.”
-Wedbush analysts, led by Daniel Ives, in a Monday note.
“We believe this deal represents an additional tailwind for PLTR with AI initiatives across both the US and European governments accelerating as AI remains a strategic focus on the federal front with Palantir in essence in the sweet spot to benefit from a tidal wave of federal spending on AI across North America and Europe.” Ives added.
9. Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 63
Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) provides IT solutions, including servers, storage, networking, and personal computing devices, to businesses and consumers worldwide. On April 14, Citi lowered the firm’s price target on the stock to $105 from $145 and kept a “Buy” rating on the shares. The firm expects North America communications equipment group stocks to rise following the Trump administration’s reciprocal tariff exemptions on PCs, smartphones, and 20 other products.
It lowered its forecasts for spending on data centers and PCs due to weak overall demand and prefers artificial intelligence server-exposed stocks to enterprise. This is because it said many enterprises maintain a fixed IT budget and will be hesitant to raise capex due to price increases. Consumer segment is expected to get “hit the worst” on inflation and lower demand.