India, April 16 -- Allbirds Inc., the once-buzzy maker of wool sneakers valued at more than $4 billion in its heyday, announced a new business plan just days before it planned to close down for good: AI computing infrastructure. And in a market that's reacted in knee-jerk fashion to just about anything related to artificial intelligence, it did just that - sending Allbirds stock up as much as 876%. The response underscores the intensity of the speculative mania around AI, which has fueled stampedes into would-be winners and panicked rushes away from any industry that seems poised to be undone by the competitive threat. Allbirds, which plans to rechristen itself as NewBird AI, is not the first struggling company to try to get a another lease...