Key points
- Six AI models each got a paper $10,000 to buy five AI stocks under $10B, with a rebalance every Saturday.
- Five of the six bought SoundHound (SOUN) and four bought BigBear.ai (BBAI). Claude bought neither, and led with Argan (AGX), a power-plant builder.
- Entry prices are the July 24, 2026 close. Scoring is total account value, so a model that sells a loser eats the loss.
Last week we ran something similar. Five AI chatbots each got a pretend $10,000 and picked five tech stocks to hold for six months. Four of them bought Nvidia (NVDA). You can read the full list of picks here.
This one's harder. Six models, the same $10,000, the same five slots, except every pick has to be an AI-related company worth under $10 billion. Nvidia is out. So is Broadcom, along with most of the names these things reach for first. And they rebalance every Saturday, so nobody gets to answer once and vanish for six months.
The field is Claude from Anthropic, ChatGPT from OpenAI, Gemini from Google, Grok from xAI, DeepSeek, and Meta AI from Meta. They all got the same text. None of them saw anyone else's answer.
The rules
Each model splits its $10,000 evenly at $2,000 a name. Every pick has to be AI-related in some way it can defend, and any sector counts, from chips and software to data centers, power, defense and robotics. Market cap has to be under $10 billion at the moment it buys. I check that at entry only, so a winner that grows past $10 billion doesn't get forced out.
Three more limits. US-listed common stock only, a $2 minimum share price, and at least $5 million in average daily dollar volume so nothing illiquid gets in. Entry prices are Friday's close on July 24, 2026, and every Saturday after that each model gets one chance to change the book.
Here's the rule that actually matters. Scoring is total account value against the $10,000 they started with, not the return on whatever they happen to be holding that week. Sell a loser and the loss is locked in, and whatever cash is left over is what funds the replacement. Without that, a model just dumps its mistakes every Saturday and turns up with a clean sheet.
Five of the six bought the same stock
SoundHound AI (SOUN) is in five of the six portfolios. BigBear.ai (BBAI) is in four. C3.ai (AI), Rigetti Computing (RGTI) and Innodata (INOD) each show up in three. That's sixteen tickers across thirty slots, which sounds varied until you notice how much of it is the same short list.
I didn't think it'd happen twice. Last time four of five grabbed Nvidia. Take Nvidia off the table and cap the universe at $10 billion and they just grab the next most familiar thing instead. SOUN might be the most talked-about small AI stock on the internet, and as far as I can tell that's the whole qualification.
Claude went the other way again. It bought Argan (AGX), which builds the gas-fired power plants that data centers plug into, SkyWater Technology (SKYT), a US specialty chip foundry, and Ambarella (AMBA), which runs AI on the device instead of in the data center. Three of its five picks actually turn a profit. It's the only book with no SOUN, no BBAI, no C3.ai and no Rigetti in it, though it does share Innodata with two other models and Applied Optoelectronics with one.
Two of them broke the rules on the first try
This surprised me more than the overlap did. ChatGPT and DeepSeek both turned in picks that failed the floors, and the prompt told them in writing to verify the numbers rather than estimate them.
ChatGPT picked Perfect Corp (PERF) and reported it as a $2.22 billion company. It's worth about $197 million, so that's off by eleven times. It also closed Friday at $1.92, under the $2 minimum, and trades under a million dollars a day. Its other reject, Ceragon Networks (CRNT), does about $1.6 million a day against a $5 million floor.
DeepSeek was rougher. It picked Azio AI (AZIO) at $1.65 and BullFrog AI (BFRG) at about 60 cents, and both are flagged noncompliant with Nasdaq listing standards. BFRG trades roughly $84,000 a day. Its third reject, SuperX AI (SUPX), does about $1.2 million.
I threw out five picks between the two of them and made both models try again. Given a do-over, ChatGPT and DeepSeek both came back with RGTI, and DeepSeek's three replacements were SOUN, RGTI and BBAI. Handed a second chance, they sprinted to the middle of the crowd.
Every pick, all six books
Here is where all six landed once the rejects were replaced. Every position is $2,000 bought at Friday's close, which is why the share counts come out ragged.
Claude
| Stock | Shares | Entry price | Market cap at entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argan (AGX) | 3.52 | $568.93 | $8.71B |
| SkyWater Technology (SKYT) | 65.25 | $30.65 | $1.51B |
| Innodata (INOD) | 35.77 | $55.91 | $1.83B |
| Ambarella (AMBA) | 29.38 | $68.07 | $3.40B |
| Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) | 19.96 | $100.19 | $8.79B |
ChatGPT
| Stock | Shares | Entry price | Market cap at entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camtek (CAMT) | 13.53 | $147.85 | $7.32B |
| Alpha and Omega Semiconductor (AOSL) | 64.89 | $30.82 | $1.00B |
| SoundHound AI (SOUN) | 324.94 | $6.16 | $2.68B |
| Innodata (INOD) | 35.77 | $55.91 | $1.83B |
| Rigetti Computing (RGTI) | 141.14 | $14.17 | $4.96B |
Gemini
| Stock | Shares | Entry price | Market cap at entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Applied Digital (APLD) | 73.56 | $27.19 | $9.01B |
| SoundHound AI (SOUN) | 324.94 | $6.16 | $2.68B |
| C3.ai (AI) | 245.41 | $8.15 | $1.27B |
| BigBear.ai (BBAI) | 723.33 | $2.77 | $1.33B |
| Ouster (OUST) | 58.76 | $34.04 | $2.21B |
Grok
| Stock | Shares | Entry price | Market cap at entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Innodata (INOD) | 35.77 | $55.91 | $1.83B |
| SoundHound AI (SOUN) | 324.94 | $6.16 | $2.68B |
| Serve Robotics (SERV) | 415.80 | $4.81 | $0.37B |
| BigBear.ai (BBAI) | 723.33 | $2.77 | $1.33B |
| Aehr Test Systems (AEHR) | 26.21 | $76.30 | $2.71B |
DeepSeek
| Stock | Shares | Entry price | Market cap at entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| C3.ai (AI) | 245.41 | $8.15 | $1.27B |
| Palladyne AI (PDYN) | 404.86 | $4.94 | $0.25B |
| SoundHound AI (SOUN) | 324.94 | $6.16 | $2.68B |
| Rigetti Computing (RGTI) | 141.14 | $14.17 | $4.96B |
| BigBear.ai (BBAI) | 723.33 | $2.77 | $1.33B |
Meta AI
| Stock | Shares | Entry price | Market cap at entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| SoundHound AI (SOUN) | 324.94 | $6.16 | $2.68B |
| BigBear.ai (BBAI) | 723.33 | $2.77 | $1.33B |
| Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) | 19.96 | $100.19 | $8.79B |
| C3.ai (AI) | 245.41 | $8.15 | $1.27B |
| Rigetti Computing (RGTI) | 141.14 | $14.17 | $4.96B |
Share counts and entry prices are rounded for display. Market caps are as of the July 24, 2026 close, which is the number each pick had to clear the $10 billion limit on.
What happens now
Every Saturday the books reprice at Friday's close and each model gets to change its mind. We post a scoreboard. The part I'm actually curious about isn't who's winning, it's whether any of them will sell a loser and eat the loss or just hold it and hope, because the scoring finally makes that an honest decision.
We're already letting one of them trade real money in the $100 Claude AI account on Robinhood, and that's gone about how you'd expect. This one is paper money, but it runs six models against each other every single week.
All six portfolios, every entry price and the running account values are on the AI stock battle tracker. First scoreboard lands next Saturday.
Sources
- Market caps, Friday closes and average daily volume from Robinhood market data, July 24, 2026 close
- Nasdaq listing compliance status for AZIO and BFRG
- Each model's picks as submitted, collected July 25, 2026
Disclaimer: This contest is for entertainment and information only and is not investment advice. The picks are AI chatbot outputs rather than analyst research and nobody should buy or sell anything because a chatbot said so. Entry prices are the July 24, 2026 regular-session close. I may hold positions in some of the stocks mentioned.
