The new economy begins to crush! Artificial intelligence funds are up three times as much as the Dow this year

Silicon Valley is still debating the impact of emerging technologies on humanity's future, and Wall Street is already embracing the new economy. A fund that invests in robotics and artificial intelligence technology companies has gained three times as much as the Dow this year.

So far this year, Global X Funds' NasdaQ-traded ETF, the Global Robotics and Artificial Intelligence ETF (ticker: BOTZ is up about 30%, while the century-old Dow Jones Industrial Average is up just over 9%, the S&P 500 is up nearly 11%, and the Nasdaq is up nearly 20%.

BOTZ was founded in September 2016. According to Global X Funds, the ETF seeks to invest in companies that may benefit from the increased adoption of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, including robotics, automation, autonomous vehicles and other related businesses in both industrial and non-industrial sectors.

Many of BOTZ's investments are non-U.S. companies, with Japanese companies accounting for almost half of the 29 stocks it tracks, followed by U.S. and Swiss companies. ROBO Global, an asset manager that compiles a global index of specialist robotics and automation, does not have a single ETF in the US.

Jack Ablin, an investment officer at BMO Private Bank, a unit of the Bank of Montreal in Canada, said BOTZ sits somewhere between tech and international exposure, making it a thematic mix.

William Studebaker, president and investment officer at ROBO Global, compared emerging technologies like AI to the FANG stocks (the acronym for Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet, the parent company of Google) that have been rallying in the US this year.

Studebaker told CNBC that robotics, Automation and AI, or RAAI, is indeed the next FANG trade. All four FANG companies are actually changing their businesses and investing in AI-related companies.

Mr. Studebaker says many of the companies the firm invests heavily in either aren't widely followed or aren't well tracked by Wall Street. It's an evolving industry, and it's going to explode.

However, from the data, Wall Street has also begun to take an interest in companies related to emerging technologies such as AI.

Studebaker revealed that ROBO Global has increased its assets under management by $1 billion in the past 12 months. According to Global X, BOTZ had about $236 million in assets under management as of Monday, up from just $1.5 million when BOTZ launched in September last year, an increase of about 157 times in less than a year.

According to public data, BOTZ's main holdings are Intuitive Surgical, a U.S. maker of surgical robot systems that Goldman Sachs set a price target of $1,000 in May this year, U.S. graphics processor manufacturer Nvidia, Japan's Mitsubishi Electric and industrial automation sensors and other products.

Robo Global's major holdings include Swiss automation technology company Abb, Chinese automation Technology Company and Lisse and U.S. healthcare equipment maker Accuray.