WSJ What’s News - What AI Bubble? Google's Stock Is Soaring

Episode Date: November 25, 2025

P.M. Edition for Nov. 25. It’s been a brutal month for tech companies. But the stock of Google parent Alphabet is up nearly 18% since the Nasdaq’s peak on October 29. WSJ Heard on the Street columnist Dan Gallagher talks about what Google is doing differently. Plus, Character.AI, which makes popular chatbots, is cutting off access for users under 18 because of mental-health concerns. We hear from Journal tech reporter Georgia Wells about how the company arrived at the decision. And U.S. officials say Ukraine is open to signing a newly crafted peace deal. However, diplomatic hurdles remain. Alex Ossola hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Isn't home where we all want to be? Reba here for Realtor.com, the pro's number one most trusted app. Finding a home is like dating. You're searching for the one. With over 500,000 new listings every month, you can find the one today. Download thereelter.com app because you're nearly home. Make it real with Realtor.com. Pros number one most trusted app based on August 2025 proprietary survey.

Over 500,000 new listings every month based on average new for sale and rental listings, July 24 to June 2025. Republican lawmakers take aim at safety requirements that they say will make cars too expensive. Plus, many tech stocks are down this month, but Alphabets just keeps rising. They're really the only company that has what you might call a vertically integrated model here. Having their own AI, their own cloud network, and even their own silicon, it kind of makes them a very unique business model in AI right now. And why a maker of popular chatbots is cutting teeth. off. It's Tuesday, November 25th. I'm Alex O'Sullough for the Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition

of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. We're exclusively reporting that Senate Republicans plan to challenge safety requirements for cars at a hearing next month. People familiar with the situation say Republicans are aiming at automatic emergency braking and alarms that remind drivers that a child is in the back seat because they think they're not effective and make cars more expensive. But vehicle safety advocates say such mandates save lives and don't go far enough. CEOs of the three Detroit automakers and a Tesla executive were asked to testify at a January hearing on why cars have gotten so expensive. General Motors and Ford spokespeople say the car companies are weighing whether to send their CEOs to the hearing.

Jeep maker Stalantis declined a comment. It's been a brutal month for tech stocks, especially those associated with the artificial intelligence boom. Since the NASDAQ peaked on October 29th, the stock price of Microsoft, Oracle, Nvidia, and meta platforms have seen double-digit declines. But Google Parent Alphabets is soaring, up nearly 18% in the same period, even though the company isn't exactly sitting on the sidelines of the AI race. For more on why Google's stock is defying fears of an AI bubble, I'm joined now by WSJ Hurd on the street columnist, Dan Gallagher. Dan, you write that one reason Alphabet is pushing higher is that Google's core business outside of AI, that is search, is going strong. But that's also true of Microsoft's core business, right? But its shares have dropped.

So what makes Google special here? Google just has a lot of things going in its favor right now. It's got its own internal AI that's doing well that Microsoft doesn't have because Microsoft's, still depends a lot on open AI for that element. Google has actually been designing its own silicon, its own chips, a little bit like Nvidia, which gives a competitive element there. All these worries about the sustainability of AI and AI spending don't seem as serious for them. So if a company like Open AI struggles, that has major implications for Microsoft and Nvidia and these other companies, but Open AI struggling is actually good for Google.

They're really the only company that has what you might call a vertically integrated model here. Having their own AI, their own cloud network, and even their own silicon, it kind of makes them a very unique business model in AI right now. So one place where we've seen that play out is with Google's recent launch of Gemini 3, which are trained on its own networks using its own chips. How is this vertical integration, as you say, helping Google compete with chat GPT, which of course is from OpenAI? Gemini 3 is getting a lot of rave reviews, and it did well in these benchmark tests where people are talking about it seems to be actually better than what Chat ChbD offers right now. But Google also, because they have search, they can get their AI in front of so many people, almost any time you do a Google search, you're probably going to get some AI results fed to you through Gemini. There's lots of ways Google can kind of push its AI in front of people, which gives it a strong advantage, even over JetGBTT, which kind of has this first mover advantage. going on. That was WSJ Hurd on the street columnist, Dan Gallagher. Thanks so much, Dan.

Thanks for having me. And alphabet stock rose one and a half percent, pushing it closer to a $4 trillion valuation. It closed just under that at $3.9 trillion. Major U.S. indexes also closed higher. The Dow added 1.4%. The S&P 500 was up 0.9%. And the NASDAQ gained 0.7%. say Ukraine told the Trump administration it would sign a peace deal ending the war with Russia that was put together by the U.S. But diplomatic hurdles remain. Ukraine's national security advisor says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hopes to meet with President Trump to negotiate final points in the coming days. Officials say crucial issues such as Ukraine giving up territory and whether it can join NATO are left for the two presidents to hash out. U.S. officials say

they expect a positive response from the Russian government. meetings between Washington and Moscow may be required. Coming up, why mental health concerns have led an AI company to put an age limit on users of its chatbots. That's after the break. At Desjardin, we speak business. We speak startup funding and comprehensive game plans. We've mastered made-to-measure growth and expansion advice, and we can talk your ear off about

transferring your business when the time comes. Because at Desjardin business, we speak the same language you do, business. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us and contact Desjardin today. We'd love to talk. Business. Character AI is one of the top makers of chatbots that act as companions with 20 million monthly users. But the company this week cut users under 18 off from its chatbots because of mental health concerns. For more on why the company made this decision and how teens are responding, I'm joined now by WSJ Tech reporter, Georgia Wells. Georgia, how did the company come to this decision? How did it get here? It's been a long process for the company. About a year ago, they were doing some thinking and decided to create

an entirely separate experience for under 18 users. So this was like a different AI model. But In the months after that, executives observed that their chatbots, in long conversations are less likely to adhere to safety guidelines. And even when the safety guidelines functioned perfectly, they realized that teens sometimes use them in problematic ways. And so teens would maybe like try to chat about violence or other topics that were restricted. And so by mid-September, company leaders just came to the decision that they were going to cut off teenagers. And were there any sort of impetus for this decision, did something happen to make it

happen now? Character AI is facing questions from parents, regulators, and mental health professionals about what should be the role of this technology in young people's lives. But additionally, they're also facing lawsuits from the parents of teens who have killed themselves after using the chatbots. And how have teen users responded to this policy change from character AI? Teenes are sad. They're really sad. So I spoke with a lot of teenagers this week. And a lot of them view this as almost a breakup. Many of them have become so invested with these characters that the idea of losing them is just, it's really, really upsetting for a lot of the teens I've spoken to. What do mental health experts think about that kind of reaction from teens? So mental health experts see this reaction as evidence of the risks of the technology. that that teen struggle so much to put the tech aside is one of the big questions they have about ways this technology could be problematic in the lives of some of these teens.

So Character AI made this decision. What does this mean for its business prospects? I don't think we know what's going to happen. Long term, though, Character AI is quite optimistic that their future lies more in kind of video and audio type AI that isn't the extensive back. back and forth, that they think down the road they could welcome teens back to. Their view is that the back and forth is when teens are really getting sucked in in a way that could be really dangerous for some. How are other chatbot makers dealing with issues like mental health for their users?

Character AI is really one of the early companies right now to be kind of tackling this head-on with a user ban. These questions are not going away. I fully expect other companies to be having to ponder certain decisions, even if they don't make the same decision. But Character AI, this is a rare move to see in the tech industry for a company to just cut off a vein of engagement. That was WSJ reporter, Georgia Wells. Thank you, Georgia. Thank you.

Several Democratic lawmakers say the FBI has requested interviews with them after they appeared in a video criticizing. the Trump administration, and urging troops to disobey on lawful orders. The FBI declined a comment. And French authorities said today that they have detained four more people in connection to the Louvre heist, including a man suspected of being the only thief to remain at large after stealing the nation's crown jewels. Investigators now believe they've tracked down the entire crew of thieves, but have given no sign they are any closer to finding the jewels.

Before we go, heads up that we made a correction to yesterday's show. A new report said the share of movies that included tobacco products last year was 10 percentage points higher than in 2023. Yesterday's podcast incorrectly said it was 10% higher. And that's what's news for this Tuesday afternoon. Today's show is produced by Pierre Bienname, with supervising producer Tali Arbell. I'm Alex O'Slef for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.

Thank you.