What’s Leading the Next Industrial Revolution

And why you should add these to your investment portfolio

Ric Edelman: It's Thursday, May 11th. I want to ask you a question. How long ago was the first industrial robot introduced? Hard to believe it was 1962. 61 years ago today, those industrial robots seem to be everywhere, but they really aren't. For every 10,000 workers in the manufacturing industry, there are only 141 robots. That number is supposed to rise to 500 bots per 10,000 workers within just a few years. So there will be massive growth in the industry, but still a very long way from eliminating all human workers in those fields. The reason that the growth is occurring - well, the technology obviously is getting better and better. Robots are performing their jobs better and better and the cost is dropping fast.

In 2010, the average industrial robot cost $46,000. Today they cost $10,000. Yeah, that's a radical reduction in cost. Companies are also discovering they really don't have a whole lot of choice because they're struggling to find enough people to take the jobs or they're discovering that humans are too expensive, especially when you compare them to the low cost of these robots. Not to mention the fact that robots never call in sick, they never walk out sick, and they don't cause sexual harassment in the marketplace.

And if you're going to talk about robots, you have to talk about AI, artificial intelligence, because that is how the robots are able to do what they do. So we need to look not just at the growth of the robotics industry, but the growth of the AI industry that is expected to grow 37% a year for the rest of the decade. 

What's the annual return you're getting from your bank account or your mutual fund or your ETF? Are you projected to earn 37% a year for the rest of the decade? We're talking about an industry that is currently $137 billion and that is going to grow according to projections, to nearly $2 trillion. One report says that this is going to help companies increase their profitability by 38%, adding $14 trillion to global GDP.

AI is already being used everywhere by businesses, governments, in education, law enforcement, gaming by the military, cybersecurity, the environment, the stock market; you name it. A lot of this is in the background. You're using it. You don't even know it. Google's search results are thanks to AI. Amazon's Alexa using speech recognition; that's AI. On cars on the highway that you don't have to steer or that will apply the brakes for you if you fail to do so; that's AI. How about Netflix? That's using AI to recommend movies to you? Even robots are now performing surgery thanks to AI.

This is a big deal and you ought to consider it for your diversified portfolio. Two ETFs in particular that let you invest in this space, the Global X AI and Technology ETF. The symbol is AIQ. That ETF emphasizes AI. And the Global X Robotics and Artificial Intelligence ETF. The symbol is BOTZ. Where the first ETF emphasizes AI, this ETF emphasizes the robotics. Talk to your financial advisor about investing in AI and robotics or visit Global X Etfs.com.

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