Alphabet Inc. has become an artificial-intelligence stock, for better or for worse. Though advertising still makes up the lion’s share of the company’s revenue, investors have been focusing more on the part of Alphabet’s business that seems the best proxy for AI momentum.

Alphabet reported an earnings beat and strong cloud growth, but the Google stock is spiraling Wednesday. Here's why.

Global stocks fell on Wednesday, after disappointing earnings from Alphabet knocked Wall Street futures, while the dollar took a dive against the yen, which rallied sharply after Japanese wage data upped the chances of another rate hike.