Income investors often struggle to find companies that combine generous dividend yields with meaningful exposure to artificial intelligence growth trends.
Most high-growth AI plays reinvest heavily into expansion, leaving little room for dividend payouts that income-focused portfolios typically depend upon.
However, two FTSE-listed companies currently stand out as exceptions, offering substantial yields while actively integrating AI into their core operations.
Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) currently holds the highest dividend yield in the FTSE 100 at 7.65%, with its share price also rising 13% over the past year.
The financial services giant is embedding AI across its entire business to automate manual tasks, optimise investments, and significantly improve the overall customer experience.
One practical application sees Legal & General using AI to provide customer service agents with real-time account views, alongside tools that suggest relevant next steps and evaluate call sentiment during interactions.
These efficiency gains help retain more clients and assets under management, which directly strengthens the company’s long-term revenue base and profitability outlook.
On the investment side, Legal & General is beginning to deploy AI for risk management and spotting potential financial issues, though analysts believe considerable further opportunity remains in this area.
The dividend per share has grown steadily over the past five years, and dividend cover sits comfortably above 1, suggesting no immediate threat to the payout for shareholders.
One key risk worth monitoring is the regulatory environment, which could tighten and negatively impact the company’s ability to generate higher profits going forward.
The second pick is National Grid (LSE: NG), a name that may initially surprise investors looking for AI exposure but carries a compelling case upon closer inspection.
Late last year, National Grid partnered with Emerald AI to deploy software acting as a smart mediator between its electricity network and AI server farms across its operational infrastructure.
The system dynamically adjusts power delivery and workloads depending on grid demand, providing a more efficient and flexible operating environment for the company.
From an investor perspective, this partnership should help reduce costly downtime and outages while growing revenues as consumers and businesses gain greater confidence in the National Grid network.
National Grid offers a dividend yield of 4.06%, with its share price climbing 16% over the past year, and management targets a payout ratio hovering around 80% of underlying earnings.
The company also links its annual dividend increases directly to UK inflation, providing an additional layer of income protection that will appeal to many long-term investors.
Taken together, both Legal & General and National Grid present credible options for investors seeking AI-linked growth potential without sacrificing the reliable income streams their portfolios require.