A Sneaker Brand Pivoted to AI Compute and Stock Jumped 600%, Snap Cuts 1,000 Jobs, Gemini Hits Mac

Today we’re covering the biggest AI stories of April 16th, 2026. Allbirds — the sustainable sneaker brand that peaked at a $4 billion valuation — closed a $50 million deal to reinvent itself as a GPU rental business called NewBird AI, sending its stock up over 600% in a single day and officially claiming the title of wildest AI pivot of the year. Snap announced layoffs of 1,000 employees — 16% of its workforce — with CEO Evan Spiegel crediting AI productivity gains rather than business pressure, as the tech sector crosses 70,000 job cuts in 2026 with Wall Street cheering every announcement. Plus, Google finally launched a native Mac app for Gemini, arriving a year behind Claude and ChatGPT, and GPT-5.4 Pro reportedly produced a proof for a 60-year-old unsolved math problem — and a community workflow from a woman in London who built an Airtable-to-Claude pipeline that writes compelling resale listings for her clothes from just a few photos and keywords.