Since ChatGPT set off the artificial intelligence (AI) craze, investors have been eager to know whether huge AI-related investments have really brought returns to companies. And Morgan Stanley gave a resounding answer. Morgan Stanley's latest Artificial Intelligence Adopter Survey shows that the exposure and adoption rate of AI are clearly on the rise.
Specifically, the survey shows that the financial industry has seen AI-related returns over the past few months. Among insurance companies, the share of adopters has increased from 48% to 71% since January 2025. Over the same period, the number of adopters among financial services companies increased from 66% to 73%.
"In our dedicated survey of 400 companies applying GenAI (generative AI) to their products, financial companies showed the most low-cost opportunities in both cost and revenue terms," Morgan Stanley wrote in the July 2025 edition of its Artificial Intelligence Adopter Survey.
Companies in the industry have been investing heavily in artificial intelligence capabilities to automate customer service and enhance risk and compliance protocols.
Additionally, the real estate and consumer industries are seeing the greatest changes in AI applications.
Morgan Stanley found that nearly 30% of consumer durables and apparel companies have increased their focus on artificial intelligence, that is, they have increased their participation in artificial intelligence technology. Overall, adoption of AI by such companies increased from 20% to 44%.
A big part of the use of AI in the consumer space comes from supply chain optimization - for example, retailers like Target and Walmart are using the technology to manage inventory.
In the real estate industry, 32% of real estate investment trusts (REITs) are now significantly more engaged with AI technology than at the time of the January survey. Ron Kamdem, director of U.S. REIT and commercial real estate research at Morgan Stanley, said that of the 525,000 jobs in the public REIT and commercial real estate services industry, about 37% of tasks can be automated.
For example, leasing services, property management, and risk management are all areas of real estate that can be made more efficient through artificial intelligence, with the biggest gains coming from the automation of brokerage and service departments in the real estate industry.
Morgan Stanley added that companies exposed to AI are significantly ahead of those that have not integrated AI technology in terms of earnings revisions.
"There are clear signs that AI is playing a very important role in the business - this can be seen in relative price performance and earnings revisions," the analysts wrote.
Going forward, the gap between companies that successfully adopt AI and those that don’t will only continue to widen. As stocks continue to trend upward on higher earnings revisions, AI adopters with high pricing power are leading the rally with higher earnings revisions, while AI-hit companies are seeing negative revisions, Morgan Stanley said.