Artificial intelligence stocks tumble as economic concerns complicate growth

Investors and analysts are starting to push beyond the hype about artificial intelligence and ask more questions about AI software companies' near-term growth prospects. Professional service and software providers including Palantir Technologies Inc., C3.ai Inc. and Veritone Inc. market themselves as AI companies with high growth potential, offering services to enhance enterprise analytical capabilities in sectors like cybersecurity and telecommunications. But amid a tech market downturn, these companies are struggling to convince Wall Street they can withstand the pressures of a weakened macroeconomic environment. "We believe chunky data analytics projects are more likely to be put on hold in a weaker growth environment," Goldman Sachs analysts said in a Nov. 8 note following Palantir's third-quarter 2022 earnings call. All three stocks have been hard-hit amid the broader sell-off in tech stocks in 2022, with Palantir and C3.ai both down about 59% year-to-date as of Nov. 23.