Allbirds Pivots to AI From Sneakers and Shareholders Love It

Allbirds Inc., the once-buzzy maker of wool sneakers valued at more than $4 billion in its heyday, announced a new business plan just days before it was set to close down for good: AI computing infrastructure.

And in a stock market that’s reacted in knee-jerk fashion to just about anything related to artificial intelligence, it did just that — sending Allbirds shares up 582% by the time the trading day ended Wednesday.

The response underscored the intensity of the speculative mania around AI, which has fueled stampedes into would-be winners and panicked pullbacks from any ...