What happened

After selling off 11% on Tuesday, shares of artificial intelligence stock C3.ai (AI 0.09%) roared back this morning, gaining 8.9% through 10:30 a.m. ET. It wasn't anything that C3.ai said or did, however, that sparked this rally.

It's what everyone else is doing.

So what

Building on the enthusiasm for ChatGPT, just this morning, multiple news outlets reported that Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (BABA 2.92%) is developing a "ChatGPT-style tool" of its own. This announcement comes on the heels of news that Chinese search giant Baidu (BIDU 0.98%) is building a ChatGPT analog as well -- and that Microsoft (MSFT 0.37%) is integrating ChatGPT into its Bing search engine.

Rounding out the list, to the surprise of exactly no one, Alphabet (GOOG 0.74%) (GOOGL 0.55%) is kicking its project Bard chatbot -- yet another response to ChatGPT -- into overdrive as it rushes to head off the challenge posed by the new technology.

Now what

With everyone else in tech so excited by the potential of ChatGPT and of artificial intelligence in general, it makes sense that investors would flock to invest in the company whose very name and ticker symbol are based on the letters "AI."

It might not make financial sense, however, to buy shares of C3.ai. Recall that just yesterday, the company reminded investors that its fiscal Q3 2023 earnings report is just around the corner and that the numbers aren't going to look very good. Sales are expected to decline 8% to $64.2 million when C3.ai reports early next month, and per-share losses are expected to more than triple year over year.

"Artificial intelligence" might be a popular concept among investors right now, but the technology is not expected to produce profits for C3.ai before 2026 at the earliest, according to analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence. And that means that investors in C3.ai today are essentially momentum investors, riding the stock up and down depending on its popularity at any given moment.

Anyone who invested in tech stocks in 2022 can tell you: That's not always the safest way to invest.