AI In Business

Alphabet's 80% cloud revenue growth couldn't stop a 3% stock drop, highlighting investor fears over AI costs and geopolitical turmoil.

U.S. stock futures fell Thursday after Alphabet and Tesla earnings revived concerns over massive AI spending without clear returns, while a jump in oil prices to $98 a barrel added to market jitters.

Sundar Pichai defended Google's AI roadmap during an earnings call, emphasizing ecosystem scale over single-model delays and teasing a monthly cadence for Gemini 4.

Alphabet's Q2 earnings expose a growing divide: cloud revenue surges on AI demand, but the core search business shows unexpected deceleration, raising stakes for CEO Sundar Pichai's strategy.

Amazon has reduced its artificial general intelligence workforce as part of a strategic shift toward core AI initiatives, following key leadership departures and a consolidation under SVP Peter DeSantis.

The consulting industry faces a reckoning as AI threatens the billable hour, erasing $100 billion in market value from giants like Accenture. Yet a deeper shift is underway: firms are betting that human judgment and client trust will become premium assets in an automated world.

As the AI trade becomes the most crowded ever, BlackRock’s Helen Jewell identifies healthcare, Latin American, and UK equities as true diversifiers. These sectors show near-zero correlation with AI momentum and trade at historic discounts.

The Punjab government has approved a Rs7.4 billion state-owned cloud system to power AI and digital governance. The GPU-based infrastructure aims to secure public data and eliminate dependence on external cloud providers, marking a major step toward technological sovereignty.

Google's AI search overhaul is keeping users inside its ecosystem, causing a dramatic drop in traffic to external websites. As AI Mode replaces traditional links, the open web faces an existential threat from the very company that once championed it.

Delhi's winter pollution hits hardest in the morning, when children exercise. New research shows shifting sports to late afternoon cuts PM2.5 exposure by up to 40%. AI forecasting could make this dynamic, predicting the safest hour daily.

Tesla is set to report its first quarterly cash burn in over two years as AI and robotics investments surge. With free cash flow expected to hit negative $3.3 billion, investors are scrutinizing when robotaxi and Optimus bets will pay off.

Global markets pivot from AI to oil as Middle East tensions and a potential ceasefire sway investor sentiment. Chip stocks rebound but face a valuation reckoning amid geopolitical uncertainty.

Apple’s trade-secret lawsuit against OpenAI lands just as the AI firm prepares to launch its first hardware device and a blockbuster IPO. The legal battle threatens to delay product launches and spook investors, raising high stakes for CEO Sam Altman.

Nine Entertainment is cutting 30 jobs at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, citing extreme AI disruption. The move aims to evolve newsrooms toward digital-first, data-informed roles amid falling subscription revenue and AI-driven traffic loss.

Cory Doctorow’s new book introduces the “reverse centaur”: a person conscripted to assist a machine. He argues big tech is pushing AI not to empower us, but to replace workers and inflate a bubble. A sharp, satirical must-read on the real economics of artificial intelligence.

United Imaging Intelligence is resisting pressure for rapid AI deployment in healthcare. Co-CEO Zhou Xiang warns of immature technology and side effects, prioritizing patient safety over adoption metrics.

A punishing tech selloff swept Wall Street, with IBM suffering its worst day ever and chip stocks plunging, even as inflation cooled. Fears of an AI spending slowdown and Chinese competition are rattling investors.

Anthropic is paying up to $600,000 for a director of investor relations to craft its investment story ahead of an IPO. The move follows key hires from Meta and Google DeepMind, signaling a strategic push to win over Wall Street.

OpenAI introduces a four-part framework for measuring AI ROI: useful work produced, cost per successful task, dependability, and value at scale. The 'Useful Intelligence per Dollar' metric aims to replace outdated adoption metrics with outcome-based measurement.

A sharp rotation out of semiconductor and tech stocks this week pushed the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index toward its steepest weekly decline in over a year, sparking fresh concerns about the sustainability of the AI-driven surge. Strong forecasts from TSMC and ASML failed to halt the slide as investors question massive AI capital expenditures.

Bank of America has named senior leaders to accelerate AI adoption across its global markets division. The appointments signal a centralized push to embed AI into trading, analytics, and digital assets.

South Korea's KOSPI has been hijacked by leveraged AI bets, causing unprecedented volatility and regulatory intervention. The market's traditional role as a global bellwether has been shattered.

U.S. earnings season intensifies with Alphabet and Intel reports that could define the AI trade's trajectory. Robust profit growth is needed to sustain market highs amid geopolitical tensions.

Karachi’s Safe City Project now uses AI to automatically fine illegally parked vehicles. The faceless e-challan system aims to reduce congestion and corruption, but raises privacy questions.

Near-record foreign buying of US stocks in May reveals a global flight to Wall Street’s AI trade, even as capital flees South Korea and Taiwan. The data exposes a stark divergence in how investors are betting on artificial intelligence.

Industrial Development Funding and Oaktree Capital are injecting $1.7 billion into Bloom Energy fuel cells to power AI data centers, starting with Nebius. The deal sidesteps grid delays but raises questions about natural gas reliance.

Micron Technology has signed long-term agreements with Qualcomm, Harman, and other automotive suppliers to provide memory and storage for AI-enabled vehicles. The deals aim to ensure stable supply and pricing as the industry races to meet booming demand for AI chips in cars.

Single-stock leveraged ETFs are driving massive flows into South Korean chipmakers, amplifying gains and volatility. Regulators are now racing to contain the risks before the feedback loop triggers a broader market shock.

Anthropic unveils Claude for Teachers, providing free premium AI access to US K-12 educators. The tool integrates with state standards and prioritizes privacy, aiming to reduce teacher workload and enhance classroom instruction.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah announced plans for AI-enabled data centers and a new deep-sea port at Keti Bandar, aiming to attract foreign investment from Indonesia and beyond. The projects are part of a broader push to digitize the province and improve trade infrastructure.