How to Diversify Away From AI When It’s Everywhere

https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-investing-diversification-anti-ai-trade-2026-6

Publish Date: 2026-06-16 05:42:00

It’s inescapable.

Artificial intelligence and the broader buildout of the technology are touching every part of investing and everyone who has money to work in the capital markets. The smart money is all in on the biggest public companies burning through billions. The success of private market investors is tied to the trend, whether they are shoot-for-the-moon venture investors or more staid infrastructure allocators. And retail portfolios and run-of-the-mill retirement plans are thoroughly intertwined with AI.

The Magnificent Seven stocks, all of which have lots to gain from AI advancements, make up nearly a third of the value of State Street’s SPY fund, which tracks the S&P 500 and, with $783 billion in assets, is one of the largest ETFs in the market. When factoring in semiconductor companies, the number rises to more than 40%, according to Business Insider analysis.

With IPOs from Anthropic and OpenAI on the way, AI bets will make up an even larger portion of portfolios.

No one wants to miss out on what is the most expensive investing trend in our lifetimes, but the omnipresence of AI in portfolios big and small begs the question: Where does an industry that worships diversification put money in such an environment?

“Most of our institutional clients are very focused on how much AI risk do I have and what do I invest into so that I’m not fully exposed to this one factor,” said Alexandra Wilson-Elizondo, Goldman Sachs’ co-head and co-chief investment officer for multi-asset solutions, at the annual Milken conference last month.

Even areas of the market that might seem disconnected from growth stocks have plenty of AI risk. Vanguard’s Real Estate ETF has more than 10% allocated to data center REITs. One of the biggest holdings in Fidelity’s Enhanced High Yield ETF is CoreWeave debt.

“How do you own things that have nothing to do with AI?” said Jay…

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