© 2026 NPR Illinois
For your right to be curious.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
NPR Illinois is seeking a full-time multimedia journalist to co-host/produce/edit/report for a new daily, regional radio news hour with Sean Crawford. Click to apply.

The familiar strategy behind the Allbirds AI pivot

An exterior view of an Allbirds store, a maker of sustainable shoes, in lower Manhattan on Aug. 31, 2021 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
An exterior view of an Allbirds store, a maker of sustainable shoes, in lower Manhattan on Aug. 31, 2021 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Shares of the shoe brand Allbirds soared this week after the company announced a surprising pivot to artificial intelligence.

Full Disclosure podcast host Roben Farzad joins Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd to try to explain their business strategy and why this moment is reminiscent of the dot-com boom.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2026 WBUR

Here & Now Newsroom