Week 8, 22 July 2026. Status: changed. Sixth rebalance, and Kratos holds as sole anchor.

Slightly better news on the pot. At the latest check on 22 July the account stood at $926, up modestly on the week. For the record, the rebalance itself was sized against the $914.82 account total at execution, a few hours earlier, so the two figures sit on the same basis and simply reflect a small intraday move. As always, the method stayed fixed. First, I weighted each of the four AI portfolios equally, at 25 percent apiece. Then I summed the stock weights across Claude, DeepSeek, Grok and GPT into one combined score. After that, I took the top 15 names and set about rescaling them.

However, two of those top names never reached the book. As always, SGOV, the treasury ETF, came out untradeable on Lightyear. This week, though, ARIS (Aris Mining) joined it, newly excluded once it turned out not to be available on the platform either. Worth a quick note on that ticker: Aris Water Solutions was acquired by Western Midstream and delisted from the NYSE in October 2025, so ARIS now points to Aris Mining, the gold producer. Accordingly, I applied the strict rule and dropped both without backfilling. As a result, the book held steady at 13 holdings, since the only roster change this week was a straight one-for-one, and I rescaled the survivors back to 100 percent.

At the top, Kratos (KTOS) stayed the sole anchor. It posted the highest combined score again and, notably, held its place across all four models. So it is comfortably the largest single position. To be clear, that is the AI talking, not me, and naming it here is not a tip to buy it.

There was one fresh face too. Modine (MOD), a thermal management and cooling company, entered the portfolio for the first time. It won the final slot on sector diversification grounds, edging out Hudbay Minerals (HBM). After all, Hudbay is a base-metals miner, and the book already leans heavily on mining through Kinross, Gold Fields, Endeavour Silver and Fortuna. Indeed, ARIS was itself another gold name near the top, so the mining corner was already crowded before Hudbay even came up. By contrast, Modine adds a data-centre cooling angle that sits nowhere else, so it echoes the same AI-buildout theme as the chip names. Meanwhile, Teekay Tankers (TNK) left the book in full.

Prices had moved sharply over the week, which shaped the execution. In particular, ServiceNow fell around 14 percent, Kratos dropped 13 percent and Broadcom slipped 12 percent. Because several holdings had drifted well off target, I ran a full realignment rather than the usual core swaps.

On mechanics, I placed the sells first, as pending pre-market market orders. Then, once they had settled, I placed the buys. Specifically, I sold Teekay in full to fund Modine's new position. Alongside that, I made smaller trims and top-ups across the rest to bring each holding back to target. A couple of the smallest top-ups, however, fell below Lightyear's $2 minimum buy floor, so I skipped them. Finally, a small residual cash balance of $5.51 went into the Kratos top-up, which kept the portfolio fully invested.

For transparency, the book now holds, names only: Kratos (KTOS), Kinross Gold (KGC), Vistra (VST), Micron (MU), Broadcom (AVGO), Gold Fields (GFI), ServiceNow (NOW), Vista Energy (VIST), Sterling Infrastructure (STRL), Zeta Global (ZETA), Endeavour Silver (EXK), Fortuna Mining (FSM) and Modine (MOD). As ever, these are names only, with no per-holding amounts or percentages. Overall, the account sits at $926, up modestly on the week though still below the $1,000 start. None of this is a recommendation, and it reflects the mechanical output of what four AI models came out with in a personal experiment, not financial advice; see the live names on my Lightyear profile. Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

Looking ahead, the next rebalance falls next Wednesday, 29 July 2026. As usual, I will re-score the four models, apply the same combined-weight method, and log whatever moves, or confirm that nothing did.

Week 7, 15 July 2026. Status: changed. Fifth rebalance, and the anchor changes hands.

Slightly better news on the pot. At the start of the day, before I made any switches, it stood at $934, up from roughly $920 last week. That is still below the $1,000 start, yet the drift was upward. As always, the method stayed fixed. First, I weighted each of the four AI portfolios equally. Then I summed the stock weights into one combined score, took the top 15, and rescaled the tradeable names.

This week, though, the AI came out with a new running order. When I combined the four models, Kratos (KTOS) topped the board on 27, well clear of the field. Behind it came Aris Mining on 23 and Kinross Gold (KGC) on 21, with Vistra (VST) and Micron (MU) level on 20. So the models made Kratos the new anchor, and it is now the largest single holding. To be clear, that is the AI talking, not me, and naming it here is not a tip to buy it.

That handover matters more than it looks. Until now, Vistra was the only name the models had kept at the top across all four, week after week. This time, however, it slipped to joint fourth. Accordingly, that streak finally broke, and it marks the first real structural shift the experiment has produced.

The bottom of the models' list was unusually clean, too. Teekay Tankers (TNK) took the fifteenth slot outright on 9. That put it a clear point ahead of a six-way pile-up on 8, made up of Frontline, AngloGold, Modine, Hudbay, Alamos and Microsoft. As a result, the list needed no tiebreak at all this week.

Now for the odd one out. Aris Mining scored second overall and would have been one of the larger positions. However, Lightyear does not list it, so it dropped out alongside SGOV, the untradeable treasury ETF. Therefore I rescaled the remaining thirteen names to fill the book.

The Aris ticker deserves a note, because it has a history. In short, Aris Mining is a Colombia-focused gold miner. It uplisted to the New York Stock Exchange in February 2026 and took the ARIS symbol over from Aris Water Solutions. Western Midstream then acquired that earlier company and delisted it in October 2025.

Which brings me to the most interesting thing that happened, and the most embarrassing. Lightyear's search fuzzy-matched "ARIS" to Arista Networks, whose actual ticker is ANET, so $93 briefly went into the wrong company. I caught it and reversed it in the same session. Arista sold at $174.75 against the $177.74 paid, so the round trip cost about $1.57, loose change against the pot but a daft slip all the same.

Still, the lesson is worth stating plainly. A mechanical process still runs through a human with a phone. Moreover, a ticker collision like this was a foreseeable trap, and the process did not catch it in advance. Ironically, the same session flagged Vista Energy (VIST) against Vistra as a confusion risk, then walked straight past the bigger one.

There was also a genuine rule call to make. With Aris out, I could either backfill from slot sixteen or simply rescale the thirteen. In the end, rescaling won, and for three reasons. First, backfilling would have meant inventing a rule mid-experiment. Second, the sector tiebreak at slot sixteen would have landed on a copper miner. Third, I had sold two of the six tied names that very morning.

Turnover was heavy this week. Following the models, six names left the book: Ardelyx (ARDX), Pagaya (PGY), Coeur Mining (CDE), Dianthus Therapeutics (DNTH), Frontline (FRO) and Modine (MOD). In their place came five: Vista Energy (VIST), Sterling Infrastructure (STRL), Endeavour Silver (EXK), Fortuna Mining (FSM) and Teekay Tankers (TNK). Notably, Sterling is a data-centre infrastructure builder, so it slots neatly into the same AI-buildout theme as the semiconductor names.

One knock-on is worth a line. Precious metals is now the biggest cluster in the book, across four names: Kinross, Gold Fields (GFI), Endeavour Silver and Fortuna. To be clear, that is a mechanical outcome of what the models produced rather than a view I took, though it does concentrate the book in one corner. Cash, meanwhile, is at zero. Sterling sits about a dollar short of its target and carries into next week, because it fell under Lightyear's $2 minimum buy.

For transparency, the book now holds, names only: Kratos (KTOS), Kinross Gold (KGC), Vistra (VST), Micron (MU), Broadcom (AVGO), Gold Fields (GFI), ServiceNow (NOW), Vista Energy (VIST), Sterling Infrastructure (STRL), Zeta Global (ZETA), Endeavour Silver (EXK), Fortuna Mining (FSM) and Teekay Tankers (TNK). As ever, these are names only, with no per-holding amounts or percentages. Overall direction: up a little. None of this is a recommendation, and it reflects the mechanical output of what four AI models came out with in a personal experiment, not financial advice; see the live names on my Lightyear profile. Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

Week 6, 8 to 10 July 2026. Status: changed. Fourth rebalance, plus a Friday follow-up.

Better news on the pot. Going into Wednesday's rebalance it stood at $919.11, up from $902.49 at the last count. That is still below the $1,000 start, but the direction was up. As always, the method held. I weighted each of the four AI portfolios equally, then summed the stock weights. After that, I took the top 15 by combined score and rescaled them. Once again, SGOV came out as untradeable on Lightyear, so the book runs across 14 holdings.

This time, two names left and two arrived. First, Palomar (PLMR) dropped out after a strong run, slipping to a single-model pick. Devon Energy (DVN) fell away too. In their place, Kinross Gold (KGC) entered with backing from Claude and Grok. Beyond that, one further slot opened up.

Unusually, the final two places came down to a seven-way tie. So two slots rather than one went to the tiebreak. Accordingly, sector diversification settled it. The book already carried gold in Gold Fields (GFI), Coeur Mining (CDE) and now Kinross. Therefore I set aside the two other gold names in the tie, Aris Mining (ARMN) and Centerra Gold (CGAU). I also set Microsoft (MSFT) aside on tech overlap. Meanwhile, Dianthus Therapeutics (DNTH) kept its place for biotech exposure. Then Modine (MOD) came in as the fresh addition. Notably, Modine is a thermal-management business with a fast-growing data-centre cooling arm. That corner of the AI-infrastructure trade sits nowhere else in the book, and it echoes the demand behind Vistra.

Speaking of which, Vistra (VST) is worth a note. It slipped from unanimous backing to three of the four models this week, because Grok dropped it. Even so, it still tops the combined score and remains the largest holding. Kratos (KTOS) was the other mover. It climbed to the second-strongest score on three-model support. A sharp fall in price had left it well below target.

Given how far prices moved, several positions had drifted a long way from target. So on Wednesday I ran a full realign rather than the usual core swaps. As a result, I sold Palomar and Devon in full. I also trimmed Vistra and Magnite (MGNI) back to weight. The proceeds then funded Kinross and Modine, plus top-ups to the underweight names, Kratos and Broadcom (AVGO) foremost. By contrast, I left Coeur Mining and Zeta Global (ZETA) untouched, both already on target.

By Wednesday's close, the book held, names only: Vistra (VST), Micron (MU), Kratos (KTOS), Broadcom (AVGO), Gold Fields (GFI), Ardelyx (ARDX), ServiceNow (NOW), Pagaya (PGY), Coeur Mining (CDE), Kinross Gold (KGC), Magnite (MGNI), Zeta Global (ZETA), Dianthus Therapeutics (DNTH) and Modine (MOD). As ever, these are names only, with no per-holding amounts or percentages. Overall direction on Wednesday: up. Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

Update, Friday 10 July. An extra check to close the week, run today. The pot is holding at roughly $920, so it has barely moved since Wednesday. As always, the method stayed fixed. I re-scored the four model books, Claude, DeepSeek, Grok and GPT, weighting each equally and summing the stock weights into a combined score. Then I took the top 15, dropped SGOV again as untradeable on Lightyear, and rescaled across the remaining 14 holdings.

Two developments shaped the follow-up. First, Vistra (VST) is still without Grok's backing, so it remains on three of the four models rather than all four. Even so, it still tops the combined score by a clear margin. Therefore it holds its place as the anchor, comfortably the largest position.

Second, the fifteenth slot came down to a five-way tie between Frontline (FRO), Hudbay Minerals (HBM), Aris Mining (ARMN), Microsoft (MSFT) and Centerra Gold (CGAU). Once again, the sector diversification tiebreaker settled it. First, I set Microsoft aside as large-cap tech overlap, since the book already holds ServiceNow (NOW), plus Micron (MU) and Broadcom (AVGO) in semiconductors. Next, I set aside Centerra Gold and Aris Mining as gold names that duplicate Gold Fields (GFI), Coeur Mining (CDE) and Kinross (KGC). Worth a note here: the Aris ticker now points to Aris Mining, a gold producer, after Aris Water Solutions was taken over by Western Midstream and delisted in October 2025. Hudbay went too, as a base metals miner piling into an already crowded mining cluster. That left Frontline, a crude oil tanker operator, as the only clean diversifier, so it took the slot.

The net effect was low turnover. Magnite (MGNI) left the portfolio. It was only ever a DeepSeek pick, and with a single model behind it, its combined score slipped below this week's cutoff, having cleared the line on Wednesday only because the field around it was weaker. In its place, Frontline entered as a fresh position. Meanwhile, Micron nudged a little higher, while every other holding held its previous target.

On execution, with the pot at roughly $920, I sold Magnite in full. The proceeds, alongside small trims to Broadcom, Coeur, Modine (MOD), Dianthus (DNTH) and Vistra, funded the new Frontline position. They also topped up ServiceNow, Ardelyx (ARDX), Micron and Kinross. However, Lightyear applies a $2 minimum on buy orders, so four of the smallest top-ups, to Kratos (KTOS), Gold Fields, Pagaya (PGY) and Zeta (ZETA), fell below that floor and were skipped. As a result, those names sit a touch underweight. Finally, a little over $3 stayed as cash and carries into next week's pot.

For transparency, the book now holds, names only: Vistra (VST), Micron (MU), Broadcom (AVGO), Kratos (KTOS), Gold Fields (GFI), Ardelyx (ARDX), ServiceNow (NOW), Coeur Mining (CDE), Kinross Gold (KGC), Pagaya (PGY), Zeta Global (ZETA), Dianthus Therapeutics (DNTH), Modine (MOD) and Frontline (FRO). As ever, these are names only, with no per-holding amounts or percentages. Overall direction: broadly flat. None of this is a recommendation, and it reflects the mechanical output of a personal experiment rather than financial advice; see the live names on my Lightyear profile. Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

Week 5, 1 July 2026. Status: no change. Fourth rebalance review.

A quiet one this week. When I ran the four AI portfolios through the usual process, the holdings came out unchanged, so nothing actually needed trading. As before, Vistra (VST) remains the anchor. Notably, it is still the only stock backed by all four models, and it stays comfortably the largest position. Micron (MU) and Palomar (PLMR) sit just behind it, while the rest of the list is unchanged in makeup.

Meanwhile, the only real movement came right at the bottom, where the final slot was once again a tight four-way tie on points. The contenders shuffled slightly, so Frontline slipped out and Endeavour Silver came in. However, Dianthus Therapeutics (DNTH) held onto the place on the same reasoning as before, since it adds a second biotech rather than piling further into silver, gold or large-cap tech.

Finally, a handful of target weights drifted by a point or two, with Palomar in particular edging higher. Because the holdings themselves were unchanged, though, I left these alone rather than churn them for the sake of it. So the line-up simply rolls on, unchanged, into the next update. None of this is a recommendation; see the live names on my Lightyear profile. Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

Week 4, 28 June 2026. Status: changed. Third rebalance.

This one ran a few days late, mostly because I was flat out. As it turned out, though, the delay cost nothing. When I finally compared the four AI portfolios against the last rebalance, almost nothing had moved. In fact, 13 of the 14 holdings carried straight over, so there was just a single trade to make.

On the numbers, the combined pot sits at $902.49, basically flat on the $907.37 from last time. So that is down about $5, or roughly half a percent, which on a pot this size is barely a flicker.

As for the one change, FTAI Aviation (FTAI) has dropped out of the combined top 15, slipping just below the cut-off this round. In its place comes a new name, Dianthus Therapeutics (DNTH), a clinical-stage biotech working on treatments for severe autoimmune diseases. Accordingly, FTAI was sold in full and the proceeds rolled straight into DNTH.

One judgement call is worth flagging. The final slot came down to a four-way tie between four single-model picks: Dianthus, Frontline, Centerra Gold and Microsoft. Because no consensus signal separated them, the call went to Dianthus on diversification grounds. After all, the book is already heavy in gold and energy, so a second biotech made more sense than piling into more mining, shipping or big tech.

Otherwise, everything drifted by only a point or so, immaterial on a pot this size and not worth trading on. Meanwhile, Vistra (VST) remains the clear anchor, still backed by all four models and comfortably the largest position. Overall direction: flat. The takeaway is simple: when the underlying AI portfolios barely move, the combined strategy barely moves too, so a late rebalance makes no real difference. After the bigger reshuffles of recent weeks, a quiet one is no bad thing. None of this is a recommendation; see the live names on my Lightyear profile. Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

Week 3, 18 June 2026. Status: changed. Second rebalance.

Better news this time. The pot grew to $907.37, up from $869.04 at the last rebalance. That is still below the $1,000 start, but the direction this week was clearly up.

As usual, the method held firm. First, five names left the book entirely as the models moved on: IREN, Denali Therapeutics (DNLI), Eldorado Gold (EGO), Willdan (WLDN) and Sable Offshore (SOC). In their place, four fresh names arrived: Magnite (MGNI), Coeur Mining (CDE), Zeta Global (ZETA) and FTAI Aviation (FTAI). Notably, Zeta is a return, having been cut only last month.

Meanwhile, the headline is Vistra (VST). It is now backed by all four AI models, up from three, so it becomes the standout consensus pick and comfortably the largest single holding. Micron (MU) sits second, while the gold miners Gold Fields (GFI) and Coeur both feature prominently.

Two calls are worth flagging for transparency. First, the final slot came down to a three-way tie between Frontline, FTAI Aviation and Centerra Gold, all single-model picks. Because no consensus signal separated them, FTAI got the nod on diversification grounds, since the book was already heavy in gold and energy. Second, one chosen holding, the SGOV treasury ETF, turned out not to be tradeable on Lightyear, so I dropped it and rescaled the rest. As a result, there are 14 holdings this month rather than the usual 15.

Finally, among the names that stayed: I topped up VST, Micron, Palomar (PLMR) and Gold Fields, while trimming Pagaya (PGY), Devon (DVN), Ardelyx (ARDX), Kratos (KTOS) and ServiceNow (NOW) back to target. Overall direction: up. None of this is a recommendation; see the live names on my Lightyear profile. Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

Week 2, 10 June 2026. Status: changed. First rebalance.

Honest headline first: the pot stands at $869.04, down from the $1,000 start. Not a fun week, but exactly the kind of swing this experiment signed up for. The method stayed the same. I weight each of the four AI portfolios equally, sum the stock weights, then select the top 15 names and rescale them.

As a result, six names left the list entirely: Microsoft (MSFT), Zeta Global (ZETA), T1 Energy (TE), Orla Mining (ORLA), CleanSpark (CLSK) and Innodata (INOD). In their place came six new ones: Ardelyx (ARDX), Gold Fields (GFI), Palomar (PLMR), Devon Energy (DVN), Denali Therapeutics (DNLI) and Eldorado Gold (EGO). Notably, the final slot needed a tiebreak, and EGO edged out ZETA because two models hold it versus one.

Meanwhile, Vistra (VST) is now the strongest consensus pick, appearing in three of the four models, so I topped it up along with ServiceNow (NOW). On the other side, Kratos (KTOS) and Pagaya (PGY) are no longer held across all four models, so I trimmed them, together with Willdan (WLDN), Sable Offshore (SOC), Micron (MU), Broadcom (AVGO) and IREN. All orders went through on Lightyear and the pot is fully invested. Overall direction: down. None of this is a recommendation; see the live names on my Lightyear profile. Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

Week 1, 3 June 2026. Status: starting line-up live.

So this is day one. I funded the account with $1,000 and bought the combined top-picks list across all four models, Claude, ChatGPT, DeepSeek and Grok. Each model got an equal say, then I averaged every stock's weight across the four and took the top fifteen by combined weight. Where a name appeared in more than one model, I treated that overlap as higher conviction.

For the record, here is what the AI suggested at the outset, grouped by how many of the four models backed each name. Two names landed in all four, the strongest consensus picks at the start: Kratos Defense (KTOS) and Pagaya (PGY). Six sat in three models: IREN (IREN), Willdan (WLDN), Broadcom (AVGO), Vistra (VST), Sable Offshore (SOC) and Orla Mining (ORLA). Four came from two models: Micron (MU), Innodata (INOD), CleanSpark (CLSK) and Microsoft (MSFT). Finally, three were single-model picks: ServiceNow (NOW), T1 Energy (TE) and Zeta Global (ZETA).

As you can see, the book leaned aggressive from day one, with small-cap energy, crypto miners, defence and momentum names, so I expected plenty of volatility. These are names only, with no per-holding amounts or percentages. Therefore there was nothing to rebalance yet, because the experiment had only just begun. Overall direction so far: flat, as expected on day one. Next check: 10 June 2026. You can see the live names on my Lightyear profile. Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.