Ashton Kutcher Says Companies Not Investing In AI Will Go Out Of Business — And He's Putting His Money Where His Mouth Is

Actor and entrepreneur Ashton Kutcher has a warning for companies not taking the growth of artificial intelligence seriously. Here’s why Kutcher believes artificial intelligence provides a great investment opportunity and is investing in the space.

What Happened: Kutcher made a name for himself as an actor in shows like “That ‘70s Show,” “Punk’d” and “Two and a Half Men” and in movies including “Dude, Where’s My Car?” and “Just Married.”

Kutcher is also a successful investor with previous stakes in companies such as Airbnb Inc ABNB, Uber Technologies UBER and Spotify Technology SPOT before they went public.

The actor famously turned $30 million into $250 million by investing in companies he believed in and by using a set of guidelines to determine his investments.

“I don’t’ believe that old cliché that good things come to those who wait. I think good things come to those who want something so bad they can’t sit still,” Kutcher said previously.

After previous investments in the technology space, Kutcher is now investing heavily in companies seeking to move the needle with the growth of artificial intelligence.

Speaking at a panel at the Milken Global Conference this week, Kutcher shared his thoughts on companies standing still on artificial intelligence.

“If you’re a company, and you’re sleeping on this, you’re probably going to be out of business,” Kutcher said. “It’s that good and that powerful from a utilization standpoint."

Kutcher said artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT have the “power” and “potential” to benefit humanity, according to Business Insider.

The actor and entrepreneur went on to say that artificial intelligence offers promise and potential for a number of industries.

One industry highlighted by Kutcher was education, with large language models able to break down complex concepts in ways that make them easier to learn for students.

“The ability to have an always-on tutor that is personalized to you is an extraordinary advantage. We’re going to have students and kids and people across the world that are going to be able to use this to learn about something in a way that they’ve never learned about it before.”

Kutcher also highlighted several other sectors that could benefit from artificial intelligence during his panel.

“We’re going to have personalized medicine; we’re going to have personalized law; we’re going to have personalized education; we’re going to personalize everything.”

Kutcher also sees artificial intelligence helping to level the playing field and letting people who can’t afford legal services being able to get help at a lower price.

“I look at AI as an equity and inclusion play that is massive.”

Related Link: ChatGPT Makes Mistakes But Quite Good Relative To Humans, OpenAI Co-Founder Says 

Why It’s Important: Technology giant Microsoft Corp MSFT made headlines for investing $10 billion in OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT.

Microsoft is planning to utilize ChatGPT to help grow its market share for its Bing search engine alongside other growth initiatives.

Kutcher was an investor in OpenAI via his investment arm Sound Ventures and is also looking to invest in more artificial intelligence companies, putting his money where his mouth is with the recent comments.

“We believe this is potentially the most significant technology we will experience since the advent of the internet. The foundation model layer companies are defining the category, and, in our view, they have the power to transform businesses and everyday life.”

Sound Ventures, a venture capital firm co-founded by Kutcher and Guy Oseary, recently closed a new artificial intelligence fund, as reported by Variety. The fund raised $240 million and was oversubscribed according to the report.

Sound Ventures AI Fund has investments in OpenAI, Anthropic and StabilityAI. The fund is looking to invest in artificial intelligence companies that are “category-defining.”

The Sound Ventures team has experience in technology and entertainment, two sectors at the heart of generative AI, Variety said.

“We anticipate that AI is going to play an impactful role in everything we do — including entertainment, an industry we know well. The companies we are backing will be at the forefront of this powerful innovation, and Sound Ventures is excited to bring our distinct experiences and connectivity to responsibly support these AI foundational platforms,” Oseary said.

Sound Ventures manages more than $1 billion in assets.

Kutcher initially used money he earned from acting to invest in technology companies.

“I really think that technology has the greatest potential to accelerate happiness of most things in the world. The companies that will ultimately do well are the companies that chase happiness,” Kutcher previously said.

Previous investments by Kutcher include the aforementioned Airbnb, Uber and Spotify. The actor has also invested in Skype, Foursquare, MoonPay and NFT marketplace OpenSea. Kutcher’s investment in OpenSea came when the company was valued at $1.5 billion, significantly lower than the $13 billion valuation the company saw in July 2022.

While past success doesn’t guarantee future results always, Kutcher has had a string of strong investments and his commentary on AI companies and those not using AI should be observed closely by investors.

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