Spaceship urges investors to back AI beneficiaries

Spaceship has urged investors to buy shares in companies benefiting from artificial intelligence, arguing that owning AI-related businesses could help offset some of the employment risks posed by the technology.

Jason Sedawie, Vice President of Investments at Spaceship, said AI models were improving faster than many people realised. He said investors should focus on companies supplying the infrastructure, software and security needed for adoption.

He pointed to signs that AI is already affecting Australia's labour market. Sedawie cited Deloitte forecasts saying the structural effects were beginning to emerge and would become more noticeable over the next few years.

As one example, he highlighted WiseTech Global, which recently said it would cut about 2,000 roles over two years - close to a third of its workforce - as it increased the use of AI in engineering and support. He added that technology companies were announcing layoffs, slowing hiring and lifting output expectations as staff were pushed to use AI tools more widely.

Investment view

Against that backdrop, Sedawie offered what he called a simple response for investors: "There is a straightforward response available to investors: own the technology driving the shift."

His argument centres on the idea that AI gains will not be distributed evenly across the market. He said the AI supply chain had moved through a series of bottlenecks - from graphics processors to high-bandwidth memory and networking - and that each of those pressure points had produced strong earnings surprises from companies many retail investors had overlooked.

While chipmakers such as Nvidia still attract much of the market's attention, Sedawie said some of the more compelling opportunities were in the software layers above the hardware. In his view, the usefulness of AI agents depends heavily on the data they can access, which puts established software providers in a strong position.

He cited Snowflake as one company to watch because AI tools built into a customer's data environment can draw on the business's own records, governance settings and internal structure. That, he said, gives such systems an advantage over generic coding tools because they are shaped by the company's context.

Security demand

Cybersecurity was another area Sedawie identified as likely to benefit as AI adoption spreads through large organisations. He said each deployment of an AI agent into core systems creates another potential attack surface, causing security spending to rise alongside AI use.

He linked that view to Anthropic's restricted-release cyber model, Claude Mythos Preview. Sedawie said the model is being used by a vetted coalition under Project Glasswing, whose partners found more than 10,000 high- or critical-severity software vulnerabilities within weeks.

Sedawie said Anthropic had warned that similarly powerful AI cyber tools could become widely available within six to 12 months, potentially reshaping demand for digital defence products. He argued that could make cybersecurity one of the clearest beneficiaries of the next phase of AI adoption.

CrowdStrike featured prominently in that assessment. Sedawie said the company was at the centre of the trend because it is a founding partner of Project Glasswing and the only cybersecurity company selected as a launch partner by both Anthropic and OpenAI.

He also pointed to comments from CrowdStrike's leadership to support the case for rising demand. "AI is creating the largest security demand driver since enterprises moved to the cloud," Sedawie said.

Superannuation route

Beyond individual stocks, Sedawie argued that many Australians may be able to gain exposure to AI through superannuation. He said super remained one of the most tax-efficient ways to hold long-term investments, and that the recent federal budget's proposed capital gains tax changes had not altered the treatment of super balances in accumulation or retirement.

His broader point was that AI would create disruption for workers as well as opportunities for investors. "The shift to AI will undoubtedly create real challenges for workers. But investing in the companies leading that change can be a way to participate in the upside of the transition, not just bear the potential costs," he said.