What Google Has That OpenAI Doesn't

Who let the dogs out? Shares of Google parent Alphabet, which was in Wall Street’s doghouse for the past couple of years, are now running freely. Friday night’s news that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway had bought a $4.3 billion stake in Alphabet sent the shares rising 3% on Monday, even as other tech stocks sagged amid a broader market sell-off. It was the latest piece of good news for Google, whose shares have been rallying since the company’s essentially scot-free escape from antitrust hell this summer. The stock is now up 50% year to date, a better performance than any other big tech stock has enjoyed. 

This isn’t just about antitrust, though. More people seem to be recognizing Google has figured out AI, after a rough start. (That perception is likely to be reinforced when the company unveils its latest AI model, Gemini 3, expected any day now.) Other data points highlight Google’s progress, including the popularity of the TPU, Google’s internally designed AI chip, and accelerating growth of Google Cloud. All this points up a reality that should have been obvious. While we in the news media breathlessly report on every step Sam Altman takes to make OpenAI a vertically integrated AI giant, Google is already there.