Meet the pickaxe vendors of the AI gold rush

There's an old saying that the surest path to profit in a gold rush is to bet on the companies supplying the pickaxes -- and that idea is now igniting the toolmakers and wholesalers of today's generative AI boom. Why it matters: It's comparatively easy to see a broad tech trend on the horizon, but often much harder to home in on who will win and over what timeframe. Netscape and BlackBerry serve as cautionary tales. Software veteran Tom Siebel, who now runs enterprise AI firm C3.ai, sees a wide swath of the tech industry benefiting from the AI boom. Here are three categories of companies that serve as the modern-day axe vendors for AI.