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The Motley Fool has published a new AI Investor Outlook Report for 2026.
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It is found that 62% of Americans believe that companies that invest heavily in AI will produce strong returns in the long term.
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Younger investors are driving confidence in AI investing and many already own AI stocks.
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As artificial intelligence (AI) stocks climbed higher and higher throughout 2025, more and more voices were warning of an “AI bubble” that was about to burst. Concerns about the valuation of some of the biggest AI players such as NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) and microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) likely contributed to the November market crash.
But according to new research from The Motley Fool, most Americans don’t believe it. In fact, more than 60% of them believe AI stocks will deliver strong long-term returns. The reason may surprise you.
According The Motley Fool’s 2026 AI Investor Outlook ReportJust released, it is younger investors who are most confident in the ability of AI companies to produce strong long-term returns, with 67% of Gen Z investors and 63% of Millennial investors optimistic about the sector’s potential. Meanwhile, older investors remain much more skeptical, with only 50% expressing confidence that AI investments by companies investing heavily in the technology will pay off.
Unsurprisingly, the most confident AI investors have largely already put their money where their mouth is: 93% of Americans who already own AI stocks or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) express confidence in the technology’s ability to produce long-term returns.
But is this simply a case of younger investors being attracted to shiny new technology, regardless of its merits? Motley Fool AI stock analyst Asit Sharma, a certified public accountant, doesn’t think so. This is what he thinks is really happening.
Many younger Americans have already had the opportunity to create content using AI technology tools, whether at work or on social media, so they have seen firsthand the revolutionary potential of the technology and how much it has improved in recent years. Sharma believes younger investors have recognized AI’s ability to fundamentally alter the way businesses and the broader economy operate.
“As reasoning models become more powerful, companies that benefit from AI-driven optimization will produce superior capital returns, and companies that support this infrastructure will prosper from sustained demand,” Sharma says in the report.