This Week in AI: AI Bubble Fears Tank Tech Stocks

Some of the biggest names in tech, including Google, Amazon, and Apple, saw their stocks battered this week amid fears that the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution has turned into a dangerous bubble. Read more in the PYMNTS weekly roundup of AI news.

AI Hype Spooked Investors on Wall Street

Tech stocks took a beating this week as fears that an AI bubble was forming. Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Nvidia, AMD and other tech names saw declines.

Pundits pointed to two culprits: Comments by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman that AI could be in a bubble, and a report from MIT saying that 95% of companies it studied are getting “zero return” from generative AI.

“Are investors over excited? My opinion is yes,” Altman said in an interview reported by The Verge. “I do think some investors are likely to lose a lot of money, and I don’t want to minimize that, that sucks. There will be periods of irrational exuberance. But on the whole the value for society will be huge.”

Read more: AI Bubble Worries ‘Spooking’ Tech Investors

Google Replaces Google Assistant With Gemini

Google is phasing out Google Assistant and replacing it with “Gemini for Home,” its most advanced artificial intelligence model. The rollout will start in October.

Gemini can handle nuanced requests and better understand context. Examples include playing songs by description, performing multiple commands at once or understanding exceptions to a rule, Google said. Gemini will also assist with routines, shopping lists, timers and open-ended queries.

A new feature, Gemini Live, enables real-time chats without users constantly having to say “hey, Google.”

There will be free and paid versions of Gemini at Home. The chatbot is coming to existing speakers and displays over time.

More details: Google Rolls Out AI Voice Assistant for Homes

SoftBank Sees a Good Deal in Intel

Storied chipmaker Intel, now struggling to find its way in the AI era, is getting $2 billion from SoftBank.

SoftBank is buying Intel common stock for $23 per share, a slight discount to its closing price in the prior trading day. Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son famously invested $20 million in Alibaba in 2000, which turned into billions of dollars in value.

Intel’s new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, said he recognized the company’s many problems during a keynote address at Intel’s conference in April.

“We fell behind on innovation. We have been too slow to adapt to meet your needs. You deserve better, and we need to improve, and we will,” Tan said. “Please be brutally honest with us.”

See: Softbank Builds on AI Investments With $2 Billion Intel Partnership

Smart Prompting for GPT-5 Users

OpenAI calls GPT-5 its most advanced system for agentic AI, designed to carry out tasks with more autonomy. While it may be powerful out of the box, results depend heavily on how one prompts it.

Intelligence alone is not enough: effective use requires precise instructions. Prompts work best when they set a role, state a clear task, add context, define the format and break big jobs into steps.

Examples help, and iteration refines results. With careful prompting, GPT-5 can deliver quick summaries, detailed reasoning or context-aware responses.

Read more: 10 Ways to Get Better Results From GPT-5

For all PYMNTS AI coverage, subscribe to the daily AI Newsletter.