New York, May 21, 2026, 18:10 EDT
Alphabet Class A shares eased 0.4% to $387.66 by the close on Nasdaq Thursday, after Google announced new AI efforts and faced a fresh complaint in Europe about scam ads. The stock ran between $383.13 and $392.46 for the session. Alphabet’s Class C shares dropped 0.4% to $383.47.
Google leaned on the timing, rolling out new AI agents across Search, coding tools and subscriptions during its I/O developer event this week. The company’s move puts artificial intelligence squarely at the center of its main business lines. “When people use our AI-powered features in Search, they use Search more,” CEO Sundar Pichai said. Reuters
Google says its AI Mode in Search now has over 1 billion monthly users. The company is switching the default global model to Gemini 3.5 Flash. Google also plans to launch information agents in Search later this summer, first for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers. Universal Cart is set to go live across Search and the Gemini app, and later in YouTube and Gmail.
Google is looking to secure Search against competitors and push its AI business further. The company dropped the price of its top AI Ultra plan from $250 to $200 per month. Google also introduced a $100 monthly tier for developers, technical leads and advanced creators.
Alphabet is still facing a much larger spending target. In its latest quarter, Google Cloud revenue rose 63% to $20 billion. Total revenue climbed 22% to $109.9 billion. Pichai called enterprise AI the “primary growth driver for cloud.” The company expects capital expenditure between $180 billion and $190 billion this year. Reuters
Alphabet is now in a tighter race with Nvidia. Google has started to sell its own tensor processing units, or TPUs, to select customers. That’s a shift, with Google pushing further into building out its own AI stack. Nvidia is still the biggest company in the world by market value, but Alphabet has narrowed the gap, turning the chip competition into a story for both the stock market and tech products.
Alphabet didn’t get much lift from the wider market but didn’t lose ground either. The Nasdaq finished up 0.09%, while Nvidia slipped 1.8% post-earnings as profit-taking set in and traders weighed coming chip competition. Wall Street’s main indexes ticked slightly higher.
Consumer groups in Europe filed complaints Thursday against Google, Meta Platforms and TikTok, saying the companies failed to protect users from scam ads as required by the Digital Services Act. The groups allege the platforms “do little when being notified” of financial scam ads, targeting the big online platforms covered by the EU rulebook. Google pushed back, saying it blocks over 99% of ads that break its rules before they reach users. Reuters
Alphabet could see its AI costs outrun gains from Search, subscriptions and cloud, with regulation adding cost or fines. The Digital Services Act can fine up to 6% of global turnover. Big Tech is already under pressure on cash: S&P 500 capital spending is set to jump 33% in 2026, while buybacks are only seen rising 3%, Goldman data shows, according to Reuters.
Google’s stock is in a holding pattern as investors watch for evidence that Gemini’s rollout into core products can support the company’s nearly $4.7 trillion valuation. The company keeps bringing Gemini to more users, but the spending required is massive. Investors have to weigh that against growth signs before deciding where the story goes next.
