Emily Flippen

Maybe there are risks and we do have a crash, but that's okay because the companies I'm invested in have very real, appreciable cash flow.

And I believe that a decade from now, even if there is a short pullback in share price of a company, they're going to be bigger, better, more important businesses in the future.

Maybe I'm giving too much credit here, but as a Motley Fool investor, that's where I hope we're going.

Donato, I want to pass the mic to you because, obviously, you're the head of AI here at The Motley Fool.

One of the things that I really liked about the report was that the optimism that Asit just mentioned and we talked about, it wasn't totally blind in this report.

When they asked about risks, the top two risks from respondents were things like data quality, security, as well as a sense of overvaluation in the sector.

You're somebody who already spends all of your days living inside the world of AI, obviously.

When you see this investor confidence shown in the report, is that matched by what you're seeing in terms of real-world adoption?

Or is Wall Street still early to the party?

It's almost ironic that we talk about AI as a bubble today, when I think the skepticism around AI is probably the highest it's ever been.

Unlike bubbles in the past, I think we as investors have a new level of awareness of things like the hype cycle.

To your point, when things get separate,

When hype separates from reality, that's when it creates a bubble.

But to your point, there is reality backing up a lot of this technology.

And I love the fact that the survey shows that investors are still largely leaning in to the AI and adoption, but there's still that awareness, that cautious amount of optimism.

Up next, we're going to be getting practical about 2026, including where the next wave of opportunities may show up.

Stick with us.

Welcome back to Motley Fool Money.

Today, we're discussing the AI Investor Outlook Report for 2026 and where AI technology may be headed.

Donata, as head of AI here at The Fool, I'd love to dig in a little bit deeper to where you see AI going.