AI investors are getting nervous about this key metric

Will the AI bubble burst? That’s the question on investors’ minds when an AI company announces anything from a rogue agent to an earnings report. Sure, AI companies continue to increase their revenue, but one lesser discussed metric has investors scared: a slowing growth rate. “A handful of AI-linked companies have driven much of the stock market’s gains recently, so any wobble here can ripple through retirement accounts and index funds broadly, not just tech investors,” says Sameer Samana, an adviser and head of global equities and real assets at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute. Take Anthropic, which shared its third-quarter results with current and prospective investors on Wednesday, October 14. The company announced that its revenue rose 45% to $16.8 billion, up from $11.6 billion in the previous quarter, CNBC reported.In theory, it sounds like a successful result, but looking at the bigger picture, it signals a potential slowdown. Anthropic’s revenue had previously risen nearly 60%—from $4.7 billion to $11.6 billion—between quarters one and two. Yet, the first quarter still beat the entirety of 2025. Anthropic reported $4.6 billion in revenue for the year and $386 million…

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