When AI Stops Predicting and Starts Doing: The Investable Shift From Screen to Physical World
Sponsored by WisdomTree
For three years, the AI conversation has been about words on a screen — chatbots writing emails, summarizing documents, generating code. Useful, but bounded. The story now is changing in a way that matters for how advisors think about thematic equity exposure.
At NVIDIA’s 2026 GTC keynote, Jensen Huang reframed the next leg of AI not as smarter models, but as AI that ACTS — in factories, on roads, in the air. WisdomTree’s research team put it cleanly: if ChatGPT in late 2022 was the moment AI became useful for generating information, 2026 may be remembered as the moment it became useful for generating physical action.
That’s not a marketing line. It’s an industrial transition with measurable economic plumbing. And it’s running on a parallel rail that most allocators are still treating as science fiction — quantum computing — which just got a $2 billion vote of confidence from the U.S. government[1].
Two threads, one underlying investment thesis.
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Thread One: Physical AI Is Already Operational
The progression WisdomTree describes is mechanical: tokens become decisions, decisions become actions, actions translate into economic output. Once that chain holds, AI’s impact stops being limited to software.
The evidence is already on the ground:
· Waymo is operating fully autonomous vehicles without human drivers in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
· Uber is partnering with autonomous developers to bring those fleets onto its network.
· Amazon’s Zoox is preparing purpose-built autonomous vehicles for urban environments.
· Mercedes, Hyundai, and BYD are working with NVIDIA to integrate advanced driver-assistance and eventual full autonomy into consumer vehicles.
· Tesla is deploying AI-driven driving systems across millions of vehicles, using real-world data to continuously improve performance.
· Hyundai’s ‘Metaplant’ in Georgia is running hundreds of robots welding, assembling, and coordinating components, with automated guided vehicles managing material flow — designed to scale to hundreds of thousands of vehicles per year not through more labor, but through tightly orchestrated machine coordination.
· At the 2026 Winter Olympics, fleets of high-speed FPV drones followed athletes in real time across luge, skeleton, and alpine events, capturing first-person footage traditional cameras couldn’t
This is not a factory augmented by technology. It is a factory increasingly DEFINED by it.
The investable surface area for this transition sits across humanoid robotics, drones, autonomous mobility, factory automation, and the enabling chips and platforms that connect intelligence to physical outcomes. The WisdomTree Physical AI, Humanoids, and Drones Fund (WDRN) is built to track that ecosystem — currently weighted toward humanoid robotics and drones/autonomous mobility, with the strategy designed to evolve as the theme matures. Top exposures include recognizable names like NVIDIA and Tesla, but the basket spans multiple GICS Industry Groups by design, because the physical AI buildout is not a single-stock trade.
For advisors thinking about how to position clients for the next phase of the AI cycle — beyond the megacap concentration that’s already priced in — WDRN offers targeted exposure to the companies actually executing the screen-to-physical-world shift.
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Thread Two: Quantum Just Became a Strategic Asset, Not a Science Project
While physical AI is the visible story, something quieter and arguably more structural happened on May 21, 2026. The U.S. Commerce Department announced it would award $2 billion in grants to nine quantum-computing companies — and take a minority equity stake in each one in return.
WisdomTree’s Christopher Gannatti laid out why this matters in a piece published May 27, and the framing is worth sitting with: this was not a research grant program. It was not a procurement contract. The federal government is now, structurally, a venture investor in the quantum computing sector.
That’s a break from how Washington has historically supported emerging technology. DARPA contracts, NSF grants, SBIR awards — all of those keep the government at arm’s length from commercial outcomes. Taking equity stakes across nine firms makes the government a stakeholder in their commercial success. It’s a portfolio manager framing, not a grant office framing.
The Intel precedent from August 2025 — when the administration converted a portion of Intel’s CHIPS Act award into an approximately 10% equity stake worth roughly $8.9 billion — established the template. The quantum announcement is that template applied at scale, across an entire industry segment simultaneously.
The IBM piece deserves special attention: $1 billion of the program (fully half), plus IBM contributing an additional $1 billion of its own in cash, IP, assets, and talent into a joint venture called Anderon — a 300-millimeter quantum wafer foundry to be based in Albany, New York. This is the chip-level manufacturing infrastructure the broader quantum ecosystem depends on, and it materially reduces reliance on foreign manufacturing for quantum components.
Then there’s the timing question. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said at IBM Think 2026: ‘We believe quantum advantage will be reached this year. That’s not 20 years away. That’s not 10 years away. That’s within this year.’ He positioned the relationship to AI cleanly: AI predicts, quantum computes.
For investors, the policy signal is doing two things at once: bringing attention to a space most allocators haven’t yet sized, and creating a stakeholder with procurement power, regulatory influence, and a national security mandate that will shape priority use cases, IP licensing, and export controls. The government is not placing one bet — it’s buying exposure to the field, because quantum is not a single-winner technology race and different qubit architectures may suit different problem types.
The WisdomTree Quantum Computing Fund (WQTM) is built specifically for that exposure.
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Why These Two Threads Belong in the Same Conversation
The AI capex cycle the market has been pricing is almost entirely about hyperscaler spend on training infrastructure. That trade is mature, concentrated, and well-owned.
The next leg looks different. It’s the buildout that turns AI from a prediction engine into an action engine — robots, drones, autonomous vehicles, physical infrastructure — paired with the compute substrate that complements AI rather than competing with it. Physical AI handles execution. Quantum, when it arrives, handles the optimization problems classical AI can’t.
That’s why WDRN and WQTM sit alongside the broader thematic AI exposure that the WisdomTree Artificial Intelligence and Innovation Fund (WTAI) captures across the AI software and platform layer. Three distinct angles on the same megatrend, designed to let advisors size allocation across the cycle rather than concentrate it in one slice.
For advisors building thematic equity sleeves into client portfolios — particularly those whose clients are already overweight the megacap AI complex — the WisdomTree lineup offers a way to extend the theme without doubling down on the same names.
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Learn more and access full list of respective fund holdings:
- WDRN — WisdomTree Physical AI, Humanoids, and Drones Fund: https://www.wisdomtree.com/us/products/megatrends/wdrn?utm_source=leaglag&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=aiplaybook
- WQTM — WisdomTree Quantum Computing Fund: https://www.wisdomtree.com/us/products/megatrends/wqtm?utm_source=leaglag&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=aiplaybook
- WTAI — WisdomTree Artificial Intelligence and Innovation Fund: https://www.wisdomtree.com/us/products/megatrends/wtai?utm_source=leaglag&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=aiplaybook
Source pieces referenced:
- Gannatti, C. (2026, May 27). The U.S. Government Just Became a Quantum Investor. WisdomTree Insights.
- WisdomTree Research. (2026, May 14). When AI Leaves the Screen and Enters the Physical World.
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This post is sponsored by WisdomTree.
Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Funds before investing. U.S. investors only: To obtain a prospectus containing this and other important information, please call 866.909.9473, or click here to view or download a prospectus online. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest. There are risks involved with investing, including the possible loss of principal.
There are risks associated with investing, including possible loss of principal. Please read the Fund’s prospectus for specific details regarding the Fund’s risk profile.
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This material is for informational purposes only and is not intended as investment advice or a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security.
WisdomTree Physical AI, Humanoids, and Drones Fund (WDRN) Risk Information: Companies engaged in Physical AI Activities are subject to unique regulatory, operational and technological risks, such as intense competition and potentially rapid product obsolescence. The regulation of such companies in the United States and other countries is diverse and rapidly evolving, which may inhibit or delay adoption. These companies are also heavily dependent on intellectual property rights and may be adversely affected by loss or impairment of those rights. Companies engaged in Physical AI Activities typically invest significant amounts of spending on research and development, and there is no guarantee that the products or services produced by these companies will be successful. Humanoid robotics companies are sensitive to trends in industrial production, capital-expenditure cycles, supply-chain conditions, and adoption rates of automation technologies across varied sectors including business and industrial end-users.
Humanoid robotics companies may have long and capital-intensive development timelines, highly uncertain paths to profitability and large-scale deployment, and limited product lines, markets, financial resources or personnel. Drone companies may be dependent on the U.S. Government and its agencies for a significant portion of their revenues, and the commercial and military adoption of drone technologies remains subject to extensive and evolving governmental oversight, including aviation safety standards, airworthiness certification requirements, export controls, and national security reviews. A fund that has a portfolio that is concentrated in the securities of issuers in a particular industry or group of related industries, may be adversely affected by the performance of those securities, and more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political, or regulatory occurrences affecting that industry or group of related industries.
Investments in non-U.S. securities involve political, regulatory, and economic risks that may not be present in U.S. securities. For example, foreign securities may be subject to risk of loss due to foreign currency fluctuations, political or economic instability, or geographic events that adversely impact issuers of foreign securities. Investments in securities and instruments traded in developing or emerging markets, or that provide exposure to such securities or markets, can involve additional risks relating to political, economic, or regulatory conditions not associated with investments in U.S. securities and instruments or investments in more developed international markets.
The Fund invests in the securities included in, or representative of, its Index regardless of their investment merit and the Fund does not attempt to outperform its Index. The composition of the Index is governed by an Index Committee and the Index may not perform as intended.
WisdomTree Quantum Computing Fund (WQTM) Risk Information: To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in the securities of companies of a single country or region, it is more likely to be impacted by events or conditions affecting that country or region. The economic, political, regulatory, and other events and conditions that affect issuers and investments in the United States differ significantly from those associated with other countries and regions. U.S. financial markets have become increasingly globalized becoming more integrated with financial markets around the world and as a result, U.S. financial markets are increasingly vulnerable to the risks that may affect non-U.S. financial markets. The Fund’s investments in the U.S. are subject to the risk that they, and the U.S. economy more generally, will be adversely affected by a decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations, inflation, and/or an economic recession in the U.S. The Fund invests primarily in the securities of quantum computing companies. Companies engaged in the development of quantum computing or machine learning technology may be significantly impacted by rapid technological advancements, product obsolescence, intense competition, consumer demand, and government regulation. Such companies are also heavily dependent upon patent and intellectual property rights. The Fund invests in the securities included in, or representative of, its Index regardless of their investment merit and the Fund does not attempt to outperform its Index. The composition of the Index is governed by an Index Committee and the Index may not perform as intended.
WisdomTree Artificial Intelligence and Innovation Fund (WTAI) Risk Information: The Fund invests in companies primarily involved in the investment theme of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Innovation. Companies engaged in AI typically face intense competition and potentially rapid product obsolescence. These companies are also heavily dependent on intellectual property rights and may be adversely affected by loss or impairment of those rights. Additionally, AI companies typically invest significant amounts of spending on research and development, and there is no guarantee that the products or services produced by these companies will be successful. Companies that are capitalizing on Innovation and developing technologies to displace older technologies or create new markets may not be successful. The Fund invests in the securities included in, or representative of, its Index regardless of their investment merit and the Fund does not attempt to outperform its Index. The composition of the Index is governed by an Index Committee and the Index may not perform as intended.
Chris Gannatti is a registered representative of Foreside Fund Services, LLC.
WisdomTree Funds are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC, in the U.S.
[1] Source: Ramkumar, A., & Somerville, H. (2026, May 21). U.S. to award quantum-computing firms $2 billion and take equity stakes. The Wall Street Journal.