What do each of the following small American cities have in common?

Kingston, New York.

Concord, North Carolina.

Nampa, Idaho.

Lewisburg, Tennessee.

Butte, Montana.

Aspen, Colorado.

Theyre all Zoom towns, defined as housing markets that are suddenly booming from a steady influx of teleworkers (zoomies).

Zoomies are impressively opportunistic people

As telework is quickly becoming the societal norm, theyve decided to trade noise, pollution, crime, mostly peaceful protests, budget shortfalls, vandalism of public property and statues, the homeless crisis and clueless lawmakers for quaint little municipalities with an abundance of nature and scenic vistas.

Who can blame them?

Its all part of Americas transformative shift that I predicted way back in April, saying

In the wake of COVID-19, social distancing and mass quarantines... America will never be the same. We literally just witnessed the deconstruction of the old America But the promise of a New America is unlike anything weve ever seen before. And if capital is deployed with great precision, I believe [investors] will be rewarded with exponential returns.

With technology stocks leading the charge, Zoom Video Communications Inc. (ZM) is up 155% since those prescient words published.

Yet the biggest (unofficial) winners in Future Wealths model portfolio my flagship newsletter that covers technology and futurism have been three artificial intelligence (AI) stocks, which are collectively up over 1,000%.

Theyre up for legitimate reasons, too

See, the explosion of AI stock prices isnt a random phenomenon nor is the boom being fueled by hype. As the chart below captures, businesses and corporations are increasingly relying on AI to guide their operations a mega trend that will persist for the entire decade.

Furthermore, my favorite predictor of future stock prices venture capitalist (VC) activity shows an ongoing frenzy of funds being deployed into AI-driven companies and technologies. In the third quarter of 2020 alone, VCs consummated 770 deals, which pushed another $10.4 billion into the industry.

With no end in sight, analyst Brittan Gibbons-ONeill delves even deeper into the AI boom.

Her full story is below.

Onward and upward,

Robert Williams

The Future of Work

Its taken some time to adjust since COVID-19 hit America with full force and companies were forced to go remote.

But it hasnt taken as much time as it might have, thanks to artificial intelligence.

And since the switch, AI and working from home pretty much go hand in hand.

Now were looking toward the future of AI and what it can continue to do for the telecommuting workforce

One interesting development during the rise of at-home businesses is the transcribing of virtual meetings.

But Im not talking about just a plain old copy of what was said during a two-hour span

AI technology and data analytics can pinpoint what part of a meeting is most significant to specific employees and then send them those excerpts.

Speaking of meetings

Another AI development we will likely see this year is the move from virtual meetings to virtual workspaces.

That means collaborating and brainstorming with co-workers just like you would in real life but online.

In 2020, Facebook launched Oculus for Business, which is a platform that enables companies to have virtual realities at work, so were already headed toward a digital workplace and have tools that could make it happen.

These strides are possible with AI and machine learning

With everyone hopping on the AI train, its no wonder the technology is expected to add $15.7 trillion to global GDP in the next decade.¹

Businesses are going to take advantage of this huge shift -- keeping their workforces in Zoom towns and taking costs normally meant for in-person work like office rent and supplies and reallocating them for digital developments.

It might mean our world looks a lot different than were used to and well be following this story along the way.

Sincerely,

Brittan Gibbons-O'Neill