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STORY: The AI effect is giving big tech a boost.

Demand for products like ChatGPT helped Microsoft and Google-parent Alphabet to beat forecasts over the latest quarter.

The Windows maker is a big backer of OpenAI, which created the popular chatbot.

It saw revenue jump 17% to almost $62 billion, with earnings per share also doing better than expected.

The tech giant said profits were driven by customers adopting AI services across its cloud computing products.

One analyst said the numbers show Microsoft’s big bet on the tech is paying off.

Shares in the firm rose over 4% in late trade.

Meanwhile, Alphabet beat forecasts across sales, profits and advertising income.

Revenue jumped above $80 billion.

Boss Sundar Pichai said AI was already boosting results from its search engine.

He said more and more people were using services driven by the technology.

The robust numbers saw Alphabet declare its first ever dividend, and a big stock buyback.

Its shares jumped nearly 16% in after-hours trade following the news.

The only challenge for it and Microsoft appears to be the cost of building the new services.

Alphabet said its capital expenditures almost doubled over a year earlier.