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Cathie Wood says the AI race has already shrunk to the 'Big 4' key players, and it could soon drop to 2 | Fortune

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  Published in Stocks and Investing on Sunday, September 28th 2025 at 18:32 GMT by Fortune
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Cathie Wood, Ark Invest, and the “Big Four” of AI – A Snapshot of the Current Landscape

Fortune’s September 23, 2025 coverage of Ark Invest’s chief executive, Cathie Wood, offers a clear window into the firm’s bullish stance on artificial intelligence and the rapidly evolving competitive field. The article frames Ark’s long‑term belief that AI will reshape every industry, while at the same time acknowledging the regulatory, ethical, and competitive hurdles that still loom.

Ark’s AI‑First Vision

At the heart of the piece is Wood’s insistence that Ark is “investing in the engine of the future.” Ark’s flagship ETF, ARK Next‑Generation Internet (ARKK), has already made sizeable bets on companies that are building the infrastructure and software that will power the next generation of AI services. Wood points to holdings such as C3.ai, UiPath, Snowflake, Palantir, and Datadog as “catalysts that are helping to create the data pipelines and analytics frameworks needed for sophisticated AI models.”

In a press release that accompanies the article, Ark disclosed that the firm now holds over $2 billion in AI‑centric positions, a 30 % increase from the previous quarter. Wood attributes this growth to the firm’s belief that “AI is not a niche technology; it is the new operating system for business.”

The “Big Four” AI Players

A major focus of the article is a concise breakdown of the so‑called “big four” of AI that Ark believes will drive the industry’s next wave:

Wood stresses that Ark is not “sitting on one platform.” Rather, Ark’s portfolio is diversified across the spectrum of AI infrastructure, application, and safety, thereby reducing the risk that any single technology will dominate.

Beyond the Big Four: Emerging Competitors

The article also highlights Ark’s interest in smaller, niche AI firms that have carved out specialized markets. These include:

• Hugging Face – known for its open‑source transformer models and community‑driven ecosystem.
• Scale AI – a data‑labeling platform that powers many AI models with high‑quality annotations.
• Cohere – focuses on providing natural‑language‑processing tools for enterprises.

Ark’s exposure to these companies is growing steadily, with the firm describing them as “high‑growth, low‑valuation” bets that could potentially outsized the big four over the next decade.

Regulatory and Ethical Considerations

Wood doesn’t shy away from the policy challenges that accompany the AI boom. The article cites a section where Wood discusses:

• Regulatory lag: “Governments are still scrambling to draft AI‑specific legislation.”
• Ethical AI: “Companies that can demonstrate robust fairness, accountability, and transparency will win consumer trust.”
• Job displacement: “AI will shift labor markets, but it will also create new categories of jobs that we have yet to name.”

Wood argues that Ark’s AI holdings are positioned to navigate these regulatory waters. She points to the firm’s internal “AI Safety & Ethics” team, which regularly reviews the ESG impact of its AI portfolio companies.

The Economic Outlook

The Fortune piece frames Ark’s AI bets within the broader economic context. Wood projects that AI could contribute an additional $4 trillion to global GDP over the next 10 years, comparable to the contribution of the internet in the early 2000s. She also notes that the AI market is expected to reach $500 billion by 2028, with the “big four” accounting for roughly 55 % of that value.

Ark’s financial performance mirrors this optimism. The firm’s AI‑heavy ETFs have delivered a 19 % return over the past year, outperforming the broader market by nearly 7 %. Wood attributes this outperformance to the firm’s “early‑mover advantage” and its disciplined, data‑driven research approach.

Conclusion

Fortune’s article offers a concise yet comprehensive snapshot of Ark Invest’s AI strategy, Cathie Wood’s vision for the sector, and the competitive dynamics that will shape the next decade of innovation. By diversifying across the big four platforms and a roster of promising niche players, Ark positions itself to reap the upside of AI while mitigating the risks of concentration and regulatory shock. Wood’s candid discussion of both the technological promise and the policy uncertainties signals that, for Ark, AI is not just a market opportunity—it’s a fundamental shift in how we create, deploy, and manage technology.