The global AI market surpassed $230 billion in 2024. But analysts now see a clear path to multi-trillion-dollar expansion, creating substantial opportunity for investors.

Within the global market, one of the fastest-growing segments is the conversational AI market. This niche sector is projected to hit roughly $41 billion to $62 billion in market value by 2032. And according to Research and Markets, it could surpass $136 billion by 2035. 

The catalyst for this growth is corporate adoption of AI for better customer experiences, faster responses and personalization; and automation. All of which can help boost operational efficiencies, technology advancements, and omnichannel support.

As noted by Research and Markets, “The surge in AI-powered customer support is a primary growth driver, as businesses shift from traditional call centers to efficient, personalized systems handling high-volume inquiries around the clock. Major companies are investing in solutions that not only respond but also execute actions, accelerating market expansion through enhanced efficiency and user satisfaction.”

That said, this opportunity is still in its early innings. Here are three AI stocks to consider.

Conversational AI Stocks to Buy: SoundHound

SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN) is one of the most well-known names among the Reddit/meme stock crowd. SOUN stock is down about 25% in 2026, as of this writing. But in December 2024, it was trading above $24 per share.

It was clear that the stock got ahead of the story, but that could be changing. SoundHound announced a new partnership with OpenTable, a global leader in restaurant tech, to launch a fully conversational in-vehicle voice AI reservations agent – as part of SoundHound’s in-car voice commerce platform. 

The new in-car AI agent allows drivers and passengers to find, select, and book restaurant reservations hands-free — all through natural voice commands in their car’s infotainment system. It connects users to its network of over 60,000 restaurants worldwide, checks real-time availability, and secures reservations in moments, transforming what could be a multi-step process into a seamless, spoken interaction that elevates convenience for drivers on the go. 

Analysts at H.C. Wainwright raised the price target on SOUN stock to $28 from $18, with a buy rating.  Ladenburg Thalmann upgraded the stock to Buy, citing strong voice-AI demand and a rapidly expanding enterprise footprint

In addition, with partnerships spanning Red Lobster, Burger King UK, Peet’s Coffee, Duke Health, Lucid Motors, and BNP Paribas, SoundHound is evolving into one of the most diversified pure-play AI platforms on the market. This is the kind of AI leader that could outperform dramatically in the next leg of the AI rally.

Conversational AI Stocks to Buy: RingCentral

RingCentral (NYSE: RNG) is the global leader in AI-powered business communications. The company just announced that “Over a million users rely on RingCentral RingEX as a lightweight contact center, enabling employees to respond to customers alongside everyday work,” said Kira Makagon, President & COO, RingCentral. “The future is customer-centric — uniting AI, unified communications, and contact center capabilities. With the Customer Engagement Bundle, we’re empowering every organization to deliver experiences that build loyalty, boost efficiency, and drive growth.”

RNG stock is down 28% in the last 12 months. However, analysts believe the stock could climb by 25% in 2026, bolstered by forecasts for 44% earnings growth.

Conversational AI Stocks to Buy: Generative AI & Technology ETF

Fund investors who want exposure to the sector without the risk of any one stock may consider the Roundhill Generative AI & Technology ETF (NYSEARCA: CHAT)

With an expense ratio of 0.75%, the Roundhill Generative AI & Technology ETF is the world’s first generative AI ETF. Some of its 38 holdings include NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA), Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) and Alibaba Group Holding (NYSE: BABA). 

That means investors get exposure to different levels of the AI stack, including the companies that help build AI platforms, infrastructure (hardware and semiconductors), and enterprise/consumer software applications.

With the global AI market already surpassing $230 billion in 2024, analysts now see a clear path to multi-trillion-dollar expansion, creating a substantial opportunity for investors.

However, in the growing universe of AI stocks, it’s important to know where that opportunity lies. Within the global AI market, one of the fastest-growing segments is the conversational AI market. This sector is projected to hit roughly $41 billion to $62 billion in market value by 2032, and it could surpass $136 billion by 2035, according to Research and Markets. 

All of this is thanks to corporate adoption of AI for better customer experiences in the form of faster responses and personalization; automation, which can help boost operational efficiencies; technology advancements, and omnichannel support.

As noted by Research and Markets, “The surge in AI-powered customer support is a primary growth driver, as businesses shift from traditional call centers to efficient, personalized systems handling high-volume inquiries around the clock. Major companies are investing in solutions that not only respond but also execute actions, accelerating market expansion through enhanced efficiency and user satisfaction.”

Here are three AI stocks that can help you capitalize on this growing segment.

AI Stocks to Buy: SoundHound AI

SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN) has been one of the most popular and volatile names among AI stocks. SOUN stock is down over 43% in 2025, but as recently as October 15, the stock closed at nearly double its closing price on December 22.

There’s a lot to like about SoundHound. The company announced a new partnership with OpenTable, a global leader in restaurant tech, to launch a fully conversational in-vehicle voice AI reservations agent as part of its in-car voice commerce platform. 

The new in-car AI agent allows drivers and passengers to find, select, and book restaurant reservations hands-free — all through natural voice commands in their car’s infotainment system. It connects users to its network of over 60,000 restaurants worldwide, checks real-time availability, and secures reservations in moments, transforming what could be a multi-step process into a seamless, spoken interaction that elevates convenience for drivers on the go. 

Analysts at H.C. Wainwright raised their price target on SOUN to $28 from $18, maintaining a buy rating.  Ladenburg Thalmann upgraded the stock to Buy, citing strong voice-AI demand and a rapidly expanding enterprise footprint

In addition, with partnerships spanning Red Lobster, Burger King UK, Peet’s Coffee, Duke Health, Lucid Motors, and BNP Paribas, SoundHound is evolving into one of the most diversified pure-play AI platforms on the market. This is the kind of AI leader that could outperform dramatically in the next leg of the AI rally.

AI Stocks to Buy: RingCentral

RingCentral (NYSE: RNG) is another name to consider in the area of conversational AI. The stock is down over 11% in 2025, but has been moving higher after posting a solid earnings report in November.

The global leader in AI-powered business communications just announced that “Over a million users rely on RingCentral RingEX as a lightweight contact center, enabling employees to respond to customers alongside everyday work,” said Kira Makagon, President & COO, RingCentral. “The future is customer-centric — uniting AI, unified communications, and contact center capabilities. With the Customer Engagement Bundle, we’re empowering every organization to deliver experiences that build loyalty, boost efficiency, and drive growth.”

AI Stocks to Buy: Roundhill Generative AI & Technology

Fund investors may want to consider the Roundhill Generative AI & Technology ETF (NYSEARCA: CHAT). To be clear, this isn’t a direct play on conversational AI. However, you will get broad exposure to a broad cross-section of AI stocks. The CHAT ETF is up more than 49% as of the market close on December 22.

With an expense ratio of 0.75%, the Roundhill Generative AI & Technology ETF is the world’s first generative AI ETF. Some of its 38 holdings include Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR), and Alibaba Group Holding (NYSE: BABA). All of these companies help build AI platforms, infrastructure (hardware and semiconductors), and enterprise/consumer software applications.

Stated differently, like many other high-beta entities, when the good times roll, few can keep pace with SOUN stock. Fundamentally, Wall Street is generally excited about the upside potential. As a pure-play conversational AI company, SoundHound’s core product is real-time voice understanding — an innovation that extends far beyond chatbots and generic large language models.

Essentially, SoundHound has built systems that can understand spoken language instantly while handling interruptions, corrections and multi-part commands. Even better, the underlying AI mechanism can operate in noisy, dynamic environments and work offline or on-device when needed. Thanks to the tech’s broad utility, SoundHound has direct relevance toward the automotive market, restaurants/drive-thrus, appliances, call centers and embedded systems.

Effectively, the company’s tech sits on a different layer of the AI stack, one where latency, reliability and efficiency concerns are paramount. SoundHound is designed to thrive where typing is cumbersome, touchscreen options are limited and voice represents the natural interface.

Despite the huge potential, SOUN stock is hampered by volatility. Broader fundamental concerns, such as competition from big tech, enterprise sales cycles and execution risk apply tremendous pressure on the business. In addition, margins may suffer from compressive shocks, an underlying concern among pure-play AI enterprises.

Still, there may be a method to the madness — and it all starts with the understanding that the equities market is a multiverse.

Shifting Away from Single Path Paradigms

For older millennials and any generation above this age bracket, viewing the market through the lens of a single path domain is comfortable and intuitive. Blockbuster movies like “Star Wars” focused on one character against one evil entity within one continuous timeline. Even in popular franchises like “Terminator” — where the concept of time travel necessarily invokes multiple realities — the narrative focused on a central moral arc: humanity’s struggle against the machines.

However, Generation Z grew up watching films that explicitly integrated the multiverse. Thanks to films based on the Marvel Comics universe, young viewers have been exposed to the concept of multiple timelines and what-if scenarios. For this and emerging generations, multi-path domains represent the holistic understanding of reality.

In fact, Wall Street agrees with Gen Z. It was hidden in plain sight this whole time.

While most people consider options to be synthetic ownership of exposure (to the underlying security), at a much deeper level, it represents the market’s mechanism for the pricing of alternate realities — more precisely, the pricing of unrealized states of the world. Thus, when an options trade goes bad, it didn’t just expire in the abstract sense. Rather, that timeline of an alternate reality was effectively extinguished.

Put another way, when investors ask where SOUN stock is going, it’s an understandable question, but it’s also the wrong question. Such thinking assumes a continuous moral framework, if you will, where the addition of time only magnifies collective intent.

In contrast, the smart inquiry is to ask where SOUN stock stops going. That implies transition, and it also implies that, in a different reality, even the most aggressive buyers are tempted to become sellers. At that fulcrum, we’re no longer talking about the intensification of the prior moral directive. Instead, we are talking about a reversal of expectations — a new reality, a multiverse.

But rather than a philosophical musing, multi-path domains offer a practical benefit as they force traders to think distributionally.

Aligning SOUN Stock to the Correct Paradigm

Under a standard analytical framework, price or value is plotted chronologically, which is the most intuitive manner to view transitions. Such an approach, though, is blind to probabilistic structure, which is a flaw that distributional analysis seeks to correct.

If we were to view SOUN stock across one 10-week cycle, it would hardly be instructive because the dynamism of the security would likely change from week to week. However, if we stacked multiple 10-week cycles in a distributional analysis, a probabilistic shape would emerge. Specifically, certain price levels — when aligned with a static anchor or starting point — would be more represented than others.

To use more scientific language, probability density in some price levels would be more elevated. At the same time, the probability density of one-off aberrations would be neutralized in the distribution because of their lack of representation. What should emerge, then, is a “tangible” image of probabilistic mass.

Specifically for SoundHound, the distribution of its 10-week trials since the company’s public market debut would mostly range between $11.40 and $12.20 (assuming an anchor price of $11.65, Friday’s close). Further, price clustering would likely be predominant at $11.78.

However, when SOUN stock is structured in a 3-7-D formation — three up weeks, seven down weeks, with an overall downward slope — the 10-week distribution ranges between $11.10 and $14.35. Moreover, price clustering would likely occur at $13.10.

Interestingly, from this peak level, probability density drops exponentially. At the $14 level, density is down almost to the bare bones. That doesn’t mean that on a terminal basis, SOUN stock is incapable of reaching $14 over the next 10 weeks. However, the chances of doing so sustainably are limited.

While it would make sense to then go for a February-month options trade, the lack of volume currently prevents this wager from being possible. Therefore, the most aggressive but rational idea may be the 12/13 bull call spread expiring Jan. 16, 2026. If SOUN stock rises through the second-leg strike ($13) at expiration, the maximum payout stands at over 194%.

Of course, the risk is that the above distributional projection must arrive sooner rather than later. If you can accept this proposition, the above trade could be awfully enticing.

Disclosure: The author held a long position in SOUN stock.

Right now, it’s about infrastructure commitments. Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) said its capital expenditure (capex) hit $34.9 billion in its most recent quarter. For its full fiscal year 2025, it’s on track to invest between $80 billion and $88 billion. Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) also increased its 2025 capex to between $70 billion and $72 billion. 

All of which is great news for AI stocks.

Even better, hyperscalers – including Microsoft and Meta – plan to spend more than $300 billion just this year as the race for AI dominance gains momentum. 

That means there’s still room for large-cap AI stocks like NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA), Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: PLTR), and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) to move higher. However, it’s also bullish for under-the-radar gems like SoundHound AI Inc. (NASDAQ: SOUN).

You may not be familiar with SoundHound, but you’ve probably interacted with its technology. This is the company that provides voice control and audio analytics software to automakers, drive-through restaurants, and other businesses with phone-based menu systems.

This AI Stock is Up 2,074% in Two Years

Over the last two years, shares of SoundHound AI exploded from a low of about $1.02 to a high of $22.17 – a 2,074% return.

Now back to $11.95, SOUN – the $4.88 billion voice AI platform – still offers plenty of upside potential. Earnings have been strong. In its most recent quarter, its EPS loss of three cents beat by two cents. Revenue of $42.7 million, up 217.2% year over year, beat by $9.82 million. SOUN also increased its outlook for 2025 revenue from $160 million to $178 million.

Analysts at Oppenheimer just initiated coverage of SOUN with a Market Perform rating, noting that the company has the potential to be a durable growth compounder.

“The company has a strong conversational AI technology platform that is supported by referenceable customers who view it as a leader in speech-to-meaning capabilities, data sciences, unstructured analytics, and technology vision,” added Seeking Alpha.

Seeing Significant Customer Momentum

Despite some recent hiccups, SOUN is seeing a good deal of customer momentum. It’s now working with over 30% of the top 20 quick-service restaurants and is expanding with Burger King UK, Church’s Texas Chicken, Peet’s Coffee and Whataburger. It also just partnered with Red Lobster to roll out an AI-powered phone ordering agent.

Restaurants are a key vertical for SoundHound, but there are others. For example:

• SoundHound is working with healthcare giants, including Duke Health, Wellstar Health System, and Englewood Health.
• In the automotive sector, SoundHound is working with electric vehicle manufacturers, with customers including Lucid Motors.
• In the financial sector, SoundHound has customers such as BNP Paribas along with regional banks and credit unions.
• SoundHound is also working with multi-location retail brands in clothing, fitness, vehicle maintenance, home services, waste management, and more.

Many AI Stocks Won’t Give You a Second Chance

The problem with some AI stocks is their speculative nature. Many are unprofitable, and some have little revenue to justify being priced as anything more than a penny stock.

SoundHound is still unprofitable. However, in its last quarter, the company posted $42.05 million in revenue, a 67.5% year-over-year improvement. Better still, the company is closing in on its first-ever non-GAAP profitable quarter.

Investors have seen many examples of companies like SoundHound, taking off once the company proves it can generate a profit. Analysts give SOUN stock a consensus price target of $17.42. That’s an increase of over 45% from its closing price on November 25.

This means the pullback to around $11, gives you a second chance to scoop up SOUN stock at a discount.