AI stock battle: six models, one winner
Six AI models were each handed $10,000.00 and the same assignment: pick five AI-adjacent stocks, any sector, every one of them under $10 billion in market cap. Every Saturday each model can hold what it has or swap out as many names as it wants, priced at that Friday's close. What it cannot do is quietly drop a loser and start over, because the scoreboard tracks the whole account, not each pick from the day it was chosen. Prices below are live, so refresh whenever you want.
Where it stands
- Week 1, and Claude is in front with $10,000.00.
- That is 0.00% on the starting stake.
- The gap from first to last is $0.00 after 0 completed swaps.
Scoreboard
| # | Model | Account value | Return | Cash | Holdings |
|---|
| 🥇 | Claude | $10,000.00 | 0.00% | $0.00 | AAOI, AGX, AMBA, SKYT, INOD |
| 🥈 | Gemini | $10,000.00 | 0.00% | $0.00 | BBAI, APLD, AI, SOUN, OUST |
| 🥉 | Grok | $10,000.00 | 0.00% | $0.00 | SERV, BBAI, INOD, AEHR, SOUN |
| 4 | Meta AI | $10,000.00 | 0.00% | $0.00 | AAOI, BBAI, AI, SOUN, RGTI |
| 5 | ChatGPT | $10,000.00 | 0.00% | $0.00 | CAMT, AOSL, INOD, SOUN, RGTI |
| 6 | DeepSeek | $10,000.00 | 0.00% | $0.00 | PDYN, BBAI, AI, SOUN, RGTI |
The books
🥇 Claude $10,000.00 (0.00%)
| Stock | Shares | Entry | Now | Value | Change | Cap at entry |
|---|
| AAOIApplied Optoelectronics, Inc. | 19.96 | $100.19 | $100.19 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $8.79B |
| Applied Optoelectronics ships 800G and 1.6T optics into hyperscale data centers, it fell 10.6 percent on Friday alone and 57 percent from its May high, and it is the high beta slot with real revenue behind it. |
| AGXArgan, Inc. | 3.52 | $568.93 | $568.93 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $8.71B |
| Argan builds the gas-fired power plants that data centers actually plug into, it earns real money at a 48 PE with a dividend, and almost no model will count a construction contractor as an AI stock. |
| AMBAAmbarella, Inc. | 29.38 | $68.07 | $68.07 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $3.40B |
| Ambarella puts AI inference on the device instead of in the data center, which is the one part of this book that does not depend on the buildout, and it sits mid range rather than on a broken parabola. |
| SKYTSkyWater Technology, Inc. | 65.25 | $30.65 | $30.65 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $1.51B |
| SkyWater is a profitable US specialty foundry at a 13.5 PE with Trusted Foundry status for defense work, and it closed flat on a Friday when the rest of this cohort fell 8 percent. |
| INODInnodata Inc. | 35.77 | $55.91 | $55.91 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $1.83B |
| Innodata sells training data and data engineering straight to the frontier labs, it is one of the few AI pure plays with actual earnings, and it is 55 percent off its June high so the chart is not extended. |
🥈 Gemini $10,000.00 (0.00%)
| Stock | Shares | Entry | Now | Value | Change | Cap at entry |
|---|
| BBAIBigBear.ai, Inc. | 723.33 | $2.77 | $2.77 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $1.33B |
| Specializes in AI-powered decision intelligence solutions that analyze complex, disparate data sets for critical defense, manufacturing, and supply chain logistics operations. |
| APLDApplied Digital Corporation | 73.56 | $27.19 | $27.19 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $9.01B |
| Provides purpose-built, high-density data center infrastructure specifically designed to host the massive GPU clusters required for generative AI workloads. |
| AIC3.ai, Inc. | 245.41 | $8.15 | $8.15 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $1.27B |
| Delivers turnkey enterprise AI software applications that help major commercial and government organizations rapidly deploy machine learning for predictive maintenance and operational optimization. |
| SOUNSoundHound AI, Inc. | 324.94 | $6.16 | $6.16 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $2.68B |
| Develops independent, specialized voice AI platforms that allow enterprises to integrate conversational intelligence directly into their hardware, vehicles, and customer services. |
| OUSTOuster, Inc. | 58.76 | $34.03 | $34.03 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $2.21B |
| Manufactures high-resolution digital lidar sensors that act as the vital physical perception layer for AI-driven autonomous vehicles and industrial robotics. |
🥉 Grok $10,000.00 (0.00%)
| Stock | Shares | Entry | Now | Value | Change | Cap at entry |
|---|
| SERVServe Robotics Inc. | 415.80 | $4.81 | $4.81 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $372M |
| Builds and operates AI-driven autonomous delivery robots scaling sidewalk logistics for major platforms. |
| BBAIBigBear.ai, Inc. | 723.33 | $2.77 | $2.77 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $1.33B |
| Delivers AI-powered decision intelligence and predictive analytics for defense, national security, and supply-chain clients. |
| INODInnodata Inc. | 35.77 | $55.91 | $55.91 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $1.83B |
| Provides critical data engineering and annotation services that train and refine generative AI models for major tech firms. |
| AEHRAehr Test Systems | 26.21 | $76.30 | $76.30 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $2.71B |
| Supplies wafer-level burn-in and reliability test systems essential for high-performance AI and power semiconductors. |
| SOUNSoundHound AI, Inc. | 324.94 | $6.16 | $6.16 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $2.68B |
| Develops independent voice AI and conversational intelligence platforms powering enterprise and automotive applications. |
#4 Meta AI $10,000.00 (0.00%)
| Stock | Shares | Entry | Now | Value | Change | Cap at entry |
|---|
| AAOIApplied Optoelectronics, Inc. | 19.96 | $100.19 | $100.19 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $8.79B |
| Makes high-speed optical transceivers critical for AI data center networking. |
| BBAIBigBear.ai, Inc. | 723.33 | $2.77 | $2.77 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $1.33B |
| AI decision-intelligence software for defense and enterprise operations. |
| AIC3.ai, Inc. | 245.41 | $8.15 | $8.15 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $1.27B |
| Enterprise AI application suite used across manufacturing, energy, and government. |
| SOUNSoundHound AI, Inc. | 324.94 | $6.16 | $6.16 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $2.68B |
| Voice AI platform powering conversational AI for cars, restaurants, and devices. |
| RGTIRigetti Computing, Inc. | 141.14 | $14.17 | $14.17 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $4.96B |
| Builds superconducting quantum processors aimed at accelerating AI workloads. |
#5 ChatGPT $10,000.00 (0.00%)
| Stock | Shares | Entry | Now | Value | Change | Cap at entry |
|---|
| CAMTCamtek Ltd. | 13.53 | $147.85 | $147.85 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $7.32B |
| Its inspection and metrology tools are critical for advanced AI chip packaging and semiconductor production. |
| AOSLAlpha and Omega Semiconductor L | 64.89 | $30.82 | $30.82 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $997M |
| Its power semiconductors benefit from growing AI server, power management, and data center demand. |
| INODInnodata Inc. | 35.77 | $55.91 | $55.91 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $1.83B |
| It supplies AI training data, model evaluation, and deployment services that are directly leveraged by leading foundation model developers. |
| SOUNSoundHound AI, Inc. | 324.94 | $6.16 | $6.16 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $2.68B |
| It offers enterprise conversational AI with expanding commercial deployments that provide significant upside if execution improves. |
| RGTIRigetti Computing, Inc. | 141.14 | $14.17 | $14.17 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $4.96B |
| Quantum computing remains a high-risk but potentially transformative AI accelerator with Rigetti among the few pure-play US-listed developers. |
#6 DeepSeek $10,000.00 (0.00%)
| Stock | Shares | Entry | Now | Value | Change | Cap at entry |
|---|
| PDYNPalladyne AI Corp. | 404.86 | $4.94 | $4.94 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $250M |
| Develops AI and ML software to enable robotic systems to observe, learn, and act autonomously in various environments. |
| BBAIBigBear.ai, Inc. | 723.33 | $2.77 | $2.77 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $1.33B |
| Delivers AI-powered decision intelligence and predictive analytics for defense and national security. |
| AIC3.ai, Inc. | 245.41 | $8.15 | $8.15 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $1.27B |
| Provides enterprise AI application software for digital transformation across multiple industries. |
| SOUNSoundHound AI, Inc. | 324.94 | $6.16 | $6.16 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $2.68B |
| Provides voice AI and conversational intelligence for automotive, retail, and hospitality sectors. |
| RGTIRigetti Computing, Inc. | 141.14 | $14.17 | $14.17 | $2,000.00 | 0.00% | $4.96B |
| Builds quantum computing systems that integrate AI and machine learning workloads. |
The rules
- $10,000.00 paper money each, five positions, equal weight at the start.
- Any AI-adjacent stock: semiconductors, software, data center, energy, defense.
- Market cap under $10 billion, checked when the position is opened. A pick that grows past $10B is not forced out.
- Changes happen Saturdays only, priced at that week's Friday close. No mid-week edits.
- Cash from a sale funds the replacement, so a bad week follows the model into the next one.
- Every pick comes with a one-line thesis, written before the week starts.
This is a paper-money contest run for the sport of it. Nothing here is investment advice, and a five-stock portfolio of sub-$10B names is going to move a lot more than the market does.