AI vs Wall Street 📉, Grok Goes Free 🆓, GPT-4o Comeback 💔

AI Quick Takes ⚡

1. Wall Street’s New Red Flag 🚩 Can AI Do It Better? 🤖 

Investors are bailing on stocks they think AI could bulldoze. Per Bloomberg, Bank of America flagged 26 companies most at risk from AI disruption, and since mid-May, that group has lagged the S&P 500 by about 22 percentage points. The list spans website builders like Wix, image libraries like Shutterstock, and creative software giant Adobe. Wix and Shutterstock have each plunged more than 30% this year, Adobe’s down roughly 23%, and even research heavyweight Gartner lost nearly a third of its value in just five days after cutting its outlook. Read more

Bottom line: AI is a threat investors are already pricing in. If your product can be automated faster, cheaper, and with fewer humans, the market is moving on without you. For companies, it’s pivot-or-perish time. For the rest of us, it’s a nudge to sharpen the skills that can’t be cloned by code…yet.

2. From AI red flags to AI green lights 🟢 (some corners of Wall Street are doubling down on the bots…)

There’s a surge in investor appetite for hedge funds that center AI in their strategy, and the money is pouring in. One head-turner: 23-year-old ex-OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner launched Situational Awareness, which now manages more than $1.5 billion despite his lack of professional investing experience. And it’s not just hype. The fund reportedly returned 47% after fees in the first half of the year, while the S&P 500 gained about 6%. Meanwhile, VAR Advisors, a New Jersey firm, runs about $3 billion in AI-focused strategies, including a fund launched this spring that quickly raised $1 billion. Read more

Bottom line: Hedge funds built around AI aren’t just symbolic; they’re delivering serious returns and attracting serious capital. Whether that’s early brilliance or a very well-funded experiment… time will tell.

3. Elon’s AI Goes Free(ish) 🆓

Musk’s AI startup xAI just made its flagship model, Grok 4, free to all users worldwide, a major shift from its paid-only launch in July. The timing? Just days after OpenAI opened GPT-5 to all registered users. Free users can choose Auto mode (routes tricky prompts to Grok 4) or Expert mode (Grok 4 for every query). The super-powered Grok 4 Heavy still costs $300/month, and “generous usage limits” apply (though xAI’s being coy about exact quotas). Bonus: US users now also get free access to Grok Imagine, its image-to-video tool. Read more

Real Talk: The AI model wars are now offering free samples, and it’s less about charity, more about market share. Free Grok 4 means more users, more data, and more ad eyeballs once Musk’s monetization plan kicks in.

4. GPT-4o Is Back From the AI Dead 💔 → ❤️

Well that was fast. After rolling out GPT-5 as the new default model, OpenAI faced a riot of user complaints. Fans said the upgrade felt cold, less creative, and lacking the “soul” of GPT-4o. Within a day, CEO Sam Altman reversed course: GPT-4o is back for ChatGPT Plus subscribers, and usage limits have been dramatically increased for GPT-5, too. OpenAI even hinted that if demand stays high, legacy models like 4o could stick around. Read more

Why It Matters: AI isn’t just tech. It’s emotional, too. Users form real attachments, and when a favorite model vanishes, it’s more than an update. It’s a breakup. OpenAI listened (fast), proving that personality still matters as much as performance.

What Made Us Laugh 😀 

Try This Week 💡

Gemini Just Got Personal…Make it your mini chief of staff

Google’s Gemini Live can now talk to your Calendar, Tasks, and Keep, meaning you can check your schedule, add reminders, and jot notes without leaving chat. It works on Android and iOS, answers “Do I have any reminders today?” like a pro, and even lets you undo actions if you change your mind.

Set it up

1. Update the Gemini/Google app → open Gemini Live and sign in

2. Give access to your apps: in Gemini, tap your profile → Apps and enable Calendar, Tasks, and Keep (approve OS prompts)

3. (Optional but clutch) Turn on Screen context so Gemini can read dates/details on your screen for one-tap actions

Try these prompts

• “Do I have any reminders today?”

• “Add ‘Marketing review with Leah, Fri 3pm, HQ’ to my Calendar.”

• “Make a Keep note: Q3 talking points.”

• Tap Undo after an action if you mess up.

Bonus: Use the same Gemini Live update at home to wrangle family calendars, chore lists, and grocery notes without leaving chat.

Try these prompts

• “Add ‘Soccer practice, Sat 10am, Field 3’ to the family calendar.”

• “Remind me to take the trash out every Tuesday night.”

• “Make a Keep note: Costco list: eggs, oat milk, frozen mango.”

Pro tip: Pair this with Google Keep’s shared lists so everyone in the house sees updates in real time…no more “I didn’t know we were out of milk.”

You Asked 🙋‍♀️

“Are we in an AI bubble?”

Like any good rom-com or earnings call, the answer is: it’s complicated. But Julie broke it down in a way that actually makes sense.

👉️ Check out her LinkedIn post here

Here’s a stat that made us do a double-take: 64% of all U.S. venture capital in the first half of this year went to AI. That’s $70 billion out of $205 billion globally... and it mostly went to just 11 companies. 👀

Here’s why some analysts say we might be in a bubble:

• All the eggs, one basket: A tiny handful of AI giants are soaking up most of the funding. Not exactly a healthy, diverse ecosystem.

• Mega-round mania: These huge funding rounds are exciting—until smaller startups get left in the dust.

• Running on vibes (and losses): Some AI companies are spending more to run their models than they’re making. It’s giving “tech flex, no checks.”

• AI-washing alert: Some startups are slapping “AI” on their pitch decks without the tech to back it up. Case in point: Builder.AI raised $400M+, then filed for bankruptcy when it got exposed.

💭 Real talk: Hype doesn’t always equal staying power. But Julie promises a part two with reasons why this isn’t a bubble…so stay tuned (and maybe hold off on the AI stock tattoos).

Your Turn 🔁

Got an AI win? Found a tool that made your life 10x easier? Building something cool that deserves a little hype (or know a woman who is)? We want to hear it! You might just see your story in the next edition (with your permission, of course). Because when one of us figures something out, we all get smarter. 🫶 

Resource Roundup 🛠️

• Gemini Guided Learning: Gemini mode is designed to help you learn and study by building a deep understanding of a topic, rather than just handing you quick answers.

Want more? Quick Links 🔗 

1. Musk threatened to sue Apple, alleging Apple is rigging the App Store in favor of ChatGPT and against xAI

2. Claude now has a memory and can reference previous chats

3. AI is creating billionaires at a record pace

What We’re Loving 💖

Her AI Vault 🗂️

Your go-to stash of top resources we’ve created so you never have to dig through old emails to find that one gem.

📘 5 Ways To Get Started With AI At Work: Quick-start guide to delegate the “ugh” tasks and focus on what actually matters.

🔐 AI Privacy Guide: What your AI tools really collect and how to lock down your settings like a pro.

🔍 Her AI Glossary: 40+ essential AI terms, broken down in plain English.

🧠 AI Model Cheat Sheet: Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini... we decoded who does what best, so you can stop guessing and start impressing.

🛠️ Build-Your-Own Productivity Tool: A one-prompt web app for tasks, timers, and focus that is custom-built by Claude and copy-pasted by you.

Before You Go... 💭