As part of an adventure in numbers that the human mind cannot comprehend, Microsoft has gained the upper hand in its rivalry with Apple, becoming the most valuable company on the planet with a market value of $2.87 trillion.

As reported by the Financial Times, Microsoft moved sharply closer to Apple earlier today on the back of a 1% rise in its stock price. Apple, on the other hand, fell 1%, leaving the Steve Jobs-born company $4 billion below Microsoft's market capitalization. Apple's market capitalization is $2.871 trillion, while Microsoft's is $2.875 trillion.

That's a lot of money! Apple will undoubtedly regain the lead in the coming weeks, days, and hours. The two companies have already switched places several times today. But what is interesting here is the reason for Redmond's sudden lead. As you can all imagine, it's AI. [On the one hand, Microsoft has invested heavily in OpenAI and seems to be trying to cram this technology into everything from Bing to actual physical keyboards. On the one hand, Microsoft is investing heavily in OpenAI and seems to be trying to cram this technology into everything from Bing to actual physical keyboards

. On the other hand, as the FT points out, Apple's recent iPhone sales have been relatively slow and the market response has been fairly muted. This, coupled with the fact that the company has been significantly moving away from competition in AI, has left it $4 billion behind Microsoft, at least for now.

This situation will no doubt change as the AI hype flourishes and the forbidden machinations dreamed up by Apple CEO Tim Cook on his Cupertino spaceship begin to bear fruit. It is inconceivable that a giant like Apple, or investors as hungry as its shareholders, will stay out of the AI game for long. This may be the first time I've welcomed the introduction of this technology; Siri is bloody useless.