The top sectors to invest in this year, according to AI

Many experts say tools like AI should be used by investors not to replace financial advisers but to augment them

- Abhishek Mukherjee

With the world at the cusp of a new era of artificial intelligence (AI), many people are salivating at the prospect of harnessing the power of AI, machine learning (ML) and Big Data in the dicey world of Dalal Street.

2024 saw real estate, health-care and consumer indices topping the sectoral charts. But which Indian sectors are expected to emerge as the winners in 2025?

To find out, we ran multiple prompts on three popular generative AI chatbots-OpenAI's ChatGPT, Grok (developed by Elon Musk-led xAI) and Google's Gemini 2.0.

For ChatGPT, arguably the most widely used AI tool in the world today, both the free version and its top-priced variant (costing $200 a month) were used.

Grok favoured IT (information technology), financial services, consumer durables, healthcare and realty. Gemini 2.0, too, recommended IT and financial services, as well as industrials and chemicals.

Both these AI models listed factors like rapid digital transformation, increasing financial inclusion and robust economic growth as among the reasons for their recommendations.

The free version of ChatGPT had arguably the weakest set of responses, which comprised articles from different news sites (including Mint). However, its top-of-the-line Pro version gave detailed responses for its top sectors-financial services, IT, infrastructure, auto and energy (including renewable-focused stocks).

It also generated a short section titled 'Potential Dark Horses': pharma and FMCG.

What to make of these results? For one, diversity of opinion is as much a feature of humans as it is of AI models.