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Written by: Ben HernandezAs technology continues to evolve, investors now have an opportunity to add AI to their portfolios with diversification and without the added risk of concentrating capital into one AI company.In the latest Welcome to the New Age ETF podcast episode , Yasmin Dahya, Head of Americas Beta Specialists at JP Morgan Asset Management; Joe Staines, Associate, Research Analyst and Portfolio Manager at J.P. Morgan Asset Management; and ETF Trends Publisher & Editor Tom Lydon discuss how AI-focused ETFs are taking advantage of this transformative technology.“Everything that technology has done as a whole to investing as a sector over the last few decades, we’re going to see sort of the same innovative impacts from machine learning and AI,” said Staines.While this may conjure up excitement for investors, Dahya warns them that due diligence is still necessary when choosing investments.“What I think is happening right now is much more of a focus and a dialogue (on AI),” said Dahya. “What that also means though is you kind of have to separate the noise from the truth a little bit around what’s truly AI from an investment point of view and what’s just the theme of AI.”Nonetheless, the notion of AI is still a foreign concept to many investors and may be reticent to add AI-focused ETFs into their portfolios. However, at some point, investors will realize that AI is something that simply cannot be avoided.“For investors, advisors, institutions, we can’t avoid artificial intelligence,” said Lydon. “It’s hitting us in the face every day.”The area of artificial intelligence will lead the next wave of disruptive technologies and exchange-traded funds are keen to capitalize on the wealth of investment opportunities that are abound in this nascent, growing space.Related: The Present and Future of a Growing ETF Space Based on an analysis conducted by Crunchbase, VentureSource and Sand Hill Econometrics, there’s already been a 14X increase in the number of active AI startups since the year 2000. A graphical representation of this below shows that trend could only continue to move towards its upward trajectory. 
The introduction of AI investing in an ETF wrapper has already spawned funds like the Innovator Loup Frontier Tech ETF (NYSEArca: LOUP ) , which invests in technologies deemed most likely to disrupt consumer and enterprise businesses over the next several decades like AI. As AI technology continues to enhance in the next years, expect more ETFs to emerge to capitalize on upcoming innovations.