The iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence ETF is weighted towards high-growth tech stocks like iQIYI and Kingsoft Cloud Holdings, which have struggled on the back of rising interest rates. New advances in the AI industry, however, could help to turn around the fund's performance. The iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence ETF [IRBO] has dropped in value by 31.7% in the last year. The fund, which has a large exposure in tech and emerging market companies, has been at a disadvantage this year as investors favour the stability of larger asset-heavy shares. Rising interest rates have also impacted the discounted valuations of the high-growth shares held within the fund.

Robots and artificial intelligence (AI) are increasingly gaining precedence in our daily life. The pandemic-driven stay-at-home trend made it more important as we have become more dependent on the technology. The growing accessibility and falling costs are also making the space more demanding and lucrative. The global robotics technology market size was valued at $62.75 billion in 2019, and is projected to reach $189.36 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 13.5%, per Allied Market Research. No wonder, AI-related investing tools like Global X Artificial Intelligence & Technology ETF (AIQ Quick QuoteAIQ - Free Report), ROBO Global Robotics & Automation ETF (ROBO Quick QuoteROBO - Free Report), iShares Robotics and Artificial (IRBO Quick QuoteIRBO - Free Report) and First Trust Nasdaq Artificial Intelligence and Robotics ETF (ROBT Quick QuoteROBT - Free Report) are hot bets now.

Robots and artificial intelligence (AI) are increasingly gaining precedence in our daily life. The pandemic-driven stay-at-home trend made it more important as we have become more dependent on the technology. The growing accessibility and falling costs are also making the space more demanding and lucrative. The global robotics technology market size was valued at $62.75 billion in 2019, and is projected to reach $189.36 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 13.5%, per Allied Market Research. No wonder, AI-related investing tools like Global X Artificial Intelligence & Technology ETF AIQ, ROBO Global Robotics & Automation ETF ROBO, iShares Robotics and Artificial IRBO and First Trust Nasdaq Artificial Intelligence and Robotics ETF ROBT are hot bets now.

BlackRock Institutional Trust Company N.A. - iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF (NYSE: IRBO) shares fell 0.55%, or $0.24 per share, to close Friday at $43.36. After opening the day at $43.16, shares of BlackRock Institutional N.A. - iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF fluctuated between $43.57 and $43.16. Friday's activity brought BlackRock Institutional N.A. - iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF's market cap to $433,600,000. The New York Stock Exchange is the world's largest stock exchange by market value at over $26 trillion. It is also the leader for initial public offerings, with $82 billion raised in 2020, including six of the seven largest technology deals.

In this episode of ETF Spotlight, I speak with Zacks Senior Stock Strategist, Kevin Cook, about investing in advanced technologies, which are bringing science fiction to our offices, homes, cars, and portfolios. London-based research company DeepMind, which was acquired by Alphabet parent Google GOOGL in 2014, has developed an AI system that can predict the 3D shape of all known proteins with almost perfect accuracy. This is a huge development for life sciences and medicine. Exponential advancements in AI have changed the nature of computing, making Moore's law irrelevant. Per WSJ, Huang's law named for Nvidia's NVDA CEO, is in full effect now.

For investors looking for momentum, iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF IRBO is probably a suitable pick. The fund just hit a 52-week high and is up 71.9% from its 52-week low price of $19.10/share. Let's take a look at the fund and its near-term outlook to gain an insight into where it might be headed: This ETF seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of developed and emerging market companies that could benefit from the long-term growth and innovation in robotics technologies and AI. It has AUM of $176.1 million and charges 47 basis points (bps) in annual fees. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the robotics market is flooded with opportunities as robots are being used for jobs such as sanitizing hospitals, homes and workplaces along with monitoring, surveying, handling, and delivering food and medicines.

Thematic funds are slowly claiming their dominance in the investment world. Notably, the collective assets under management in these funds have risen nearly three times to roughly $195 billion globally from $75 billion, over a period of three years, ending Dec 31, 2019 (per a Morningstar report). Moreover, the figure is equivalent to around 1% of total global equity-fund assets, rising from the 10-year ago level of 0.1%. Also, the options available for thematic investing have increased over time. By the end of December 2019, around 923 thematic funds were available for investing in the market (per a Morningstar's global database), with 154 new thematic funds being added globally in 2019. North America has witnessed thematic assets tripling to $30.5 billion during the trailing three-year period through Dec 31, 2019 on the back of solid net inflows.