The Best Artificial Intelligence ETFs of 2023

The best AI ETFs in 2023 consist of funds that invest in companies that are profiting from the growth of AI technology (thematic AI ETFs) or funds that leverage artificial intelligence to pick and choose stocks (AI-powered ETFs).  

Stocks consistently appearing in the top performing AI ETFs include mega caps like Nvidia Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc. 

Prices are as of close of markets Monday, Dec. 18.

The best-performing AI ETF of 2023 so far is the Direxion Daily Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, & Automation Index Bull 2X Shares (UBOT). This fund tracks exactly the same index as the Global X Robotics and Artificial Intelligence ETF (BOTZ), but it’s a 2x leveraged fund, making it much more volatile.
 

That volatility has benefited the ETF this year, helping to fuel a gain of 71%.  
 

Keep in mind that UBOT is rebalanced daily, and its longer-term returns can deviate significantly from what investors might expect given the 2x advertised leverage factor. Click here to learn more.

The second best-performing ETF focused on AI—the Listed Funds Trust TrueMark Technology AI & Deep Learning ETF (LRNZ)—is an actively managed ETF.  

The ETF holds what the fund manager considers stocks of companies that “possess innovative AI and Deep Learning solutions that represent a distinct competitive advantage in a particular industry.”    

The ETF’s portfolio is intended to be made up of a concentrated basket of 20 to 30 stocks, which makes its position sizes much larger than other AI ETFs.  

For instance, Nvidia makes up nearly 8% of the ETF, while Snowflake, Crowdstrike and Samsara make up more than 6% of the fund.  

LRNZ has a year-to-date return of 65%.  

The Global X Artificial Intelligence & Technology ETF (AIQ) is the No. 3 best-performing AI ETF, with a return of 51.2%.  
 

This is another fund that holds a global basket of stocks across industries. AIQ tracks a modified-market-cap-weighted index that caps its constituents at 3%.  
 

The ETF’s index, the Indxx Artificial Intelligence & Big Data Index, is designed to track the performance of companies “that are positioned to benefit from the development and utilization of Artificial Intelligence technology in their products and services, as well as companies that produce hardware used in Artificial Intelligence applied for the analysis of Big Data.”    
 

Top holdings in the ETF currently include Intel, Adobe, Meta, ServiceNow and Alphabet.   

The Robo Global Artificial Intelligence ETF (THNQ) is the fourth best-performing AI ETF with a year-to-date gain of 50.6%. This fund holds a global basket of AI-related stocks, which currently have weights within the portfolio of anywhere from 1% to 2.7%.  

The fund’s mandate is to buy stocks of companies that are “developing the technology and infrastructure enabling AI, such as computing, data and cloud-services, as well as companies that apply AI in various verticals, from business processes to e-commerce and healthcare, among others.”

The result is a basket of around 60 stocks that includes Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, Alphabet and Pure Storage.  

Jeremie Capron, director of research and managing partner with ROBO Global, recently sat down with etf.com to discuss this ETF. Check out this podcast to learn more.   

The fifth best-performing AI ETF overall and the top performer among the AI-powered ETFs is the VanEck Social Sentiment ETF (BUZZ), with a 50% gain.

BUZZ uses AI to help pick 75 large cap U.S. stocks which “exhibit the highest degree of positive investor sentiment and bullish perception based on content aggregated from online sources including social media, news articles, blog posts and other alternative datasets.”