![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/9cf3bc87918a2807e38eab887970c3b9f2-allbirds.rsquare.w400.jpg\")
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\n Photo: Victor J. Blue\/Bloomberg via Getty Images\n <\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve ever seen a pair of Allbirds, you\u2019d understand why the only people left on earth riding for them are tech bros. So it\u2019s both mind-boggling and also somehow completely fitting that Allbirds, a shoe company that was once the only accessory VC founders loved more than a fleece vest, is now pivoting to \u2026 artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
Sometime in the late 2010s, Allbirds, which was founded in 2015, became the monotone sneaker of choice for guys working \u201c9-9-6\u201d jobs at standing desks in Silicon Valley. If you are fortunate enough not to have come across a pair in the wild, they\u2019re mildly floppy, vaguely orthopedic, and fuzzy in the least cozy-looking way. In 2021, around the time their popularity peaked, the company was valued at $4 billion.<\/p>\n
But brand loyalty in Silicon Valley is apparently very hard to come by \u2014 in 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported that tech bros had largely moved on to brands like On and Atoms. By 2023, Allbirds\u2019 shares had reportedly lost more than 95 percent of their value while they struggled to retain customers. Last month, the company was sold to a fashion-management group called American Exchange Group for only $39 million.<\/p>\n
But apparently, getting into AI is a way better business model than merino-wool sneakers, because on Wednesday, Allbirds announced<\/a> that it will actually be an AI company now. Its new pivot \u2014 which will include renaming itself NewBird AI \u2014 sent its shares soaring by 700 percent. The new company has absolutely nothing to do with sneakers and seems to basically be using the already-existing corporate scaffolding of Allbirds as a vehicle to rent out computing power to various tech start-ups.<\/p>\n While this move might seem antithetical to the sustainable values Allbirds was supposedly founded on \u2014\u00a0large AI data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons of water<\/a> daily \u2014 it sounds like it isn\u2019t really worried about the whole environmental thing anymore.\u00a0According to CNN<\/a>, the company also submitted an SEC filing Wednesday disclosing that NewBird AI would ask shareholders for approval of a \u201ccharter amendment\u201d to remove references to the company operating under the premise of environmental conservation. Awesome.<\/p>\n Stay in touch.<\/p>\n The latest in style, self, culture, and power in your inbox.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n