The S&P 500 rose to a new all-time high on Wednesday after notching a record close in the prior trading day. The broad market index was last up 0.3%. Nike was among the day's winners, advancing 4% after Apple CEO Tim Cook disclosed he bought shares in the apparel maker. Stocks were coming off a winning session, led by tech names including Google parent Alphabet, Nvidia, Broadcom and Amazon. The S&P 500 posted a fresh record close of 6,909.79 on Tuesday. Those moves came after the Commerce Department issued its a third-quarter reading of the U.S. gross domestic product that came in at 4.3%, surpassing the Dow Jones consensus estimate of 3.2%.The report, which had been delayed by the government shutdown, initially led traders to lower their expectations of interest rate cuts early next year. However, fed funds futures trading still indicates two rate cuts by the end of 2026, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. This year, that's from the opening bell on Dec. 24 until Jan. 5. Thomas Martin of Globalt Investments anticipates a "quiet" period through the end of the year due to lower trading volume. As of 12:55 p.m., ET the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust had traded just 27.9 million shares — the 30-day average volume stands above 86 million, according to FactSet. Sure, that's sort of standard," the senior portfolio manager said to CNBC, noting that the market is already at record levels. "Do I expect an eye-popping kind of rally? No, because I don't really think we're going to get any news that's going to do that." The New York Stock Exchange will close early on Wednesday at 1 p.m. The artificial intelligence trade got tougher in 2025. A bifurcation emerged in the latter half of the year as fears of elevated valuations, macroeconomic headwinds and an emerging AI bubble took the reins, leading to volatile trading periods. Jeremy Siegel, Wharton professor emeritus and WisdomTree chief economist, expects tempered gains for the S&P 500 next year, potentially ranging between 5% and 10%. "Although the S&P 500 might not do as well the last two or three years, an equal-weighted or median stock performance might do better in 2026 than we've seen in a long time," he said on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street," adding that smaller companies are trading at valuations he considers "cheap in today's world." Nvidia has been the biggest infrastructure winner in the artificial intelligence boom, soaring in value by almost thirteenfold since the end of 2022 to a market cap of $4.6 trillion. While Nvidia's rally continued in 2025, investors betting on other AI data center plays made a lot more money over the past 12 months. With four of the biggest technology companies projecting collective expenditures of $380 billion on data center and infrastructure build-outs this year, followed by an expected increase in the coming years, Wall Street has poured money into an assortment of vendors that are poised to reap the rewards. Makers of memory, storage, fiber-optic cables, central processors and other types of enterprise hardware have rocketed in valued this year, driven by excitement around the AI craze. The S&P 500 rose about 0.2% on Wednesday morning to reach 6,921.42, a new all-time intraday high. Wednesday's move puts the index's week-to-date and month-to-date gains at roughly 1%. It has also surged more than 17% in 2025. Gold and silver prices hit yet another all-time intraday high, doing so for the third time this week on Wednesday. Gold futures scored a new intraday high of $4,555.1 per ounce, pacing for their 54th record close this year. Silver futures notched a new intraday high of $72.75 per ounce and was on track for their 17th record close year to date. The three major averages began Wednesday's shortened trading session little changed. The S&P 500 was just inches away from its record intraday high heading into the opening bell on Wednesday. The broad-based index was 0.15% below its record of 6,920.34. This comes as the index has risen 1.1% week to date, putting its year-to-date gains at about 17.5%. Jobless claims for the prior weekly period were less than anticipated. That's down 10,000 from the previous week's 224,000 and below the 225,000 that economists polled by Dow Jones had forecast. Citi's list of stocks that could show impressive returns — while maintaining low volatility — in the next year includes Cboe Global Markets, Micron Technology and First Solar. In a recent note to clients, a team of Citi analysts led by Drew Pettit shared their positive return on equity trend basket. Pettit noted that stocks in this basket have a superior Sharpe ratio, which measures a stock's risk-adjusted return. He added that this outperformance has persisted despite influences from global events and macro changes. This discount, combined with expectations for greater margin expansion and top-line acceleration, keeps us constructive on Good ROE," Pettit wrote. "Investors should consider Good versus Bad ROE as a fundamental momentum trade that is not directly correlated to Growth or AI." There's one reason why the Federal Reserve cut its overnight benchmark rate this month even though economic growth remains strong, according to Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research. "They've done so because they've become increasingly concerned about the weakness in payroll employment growth," he said in a note. "We aren't convinced that lowering interest rates can address weak employment growth, given the underlying reasons. One is a skills mismatch in the labor market, particularly for young entrants, so employers aren't finding all the folks they'd like to hire. Alphabet-backed fleet management software company Motive on Tuesday filed for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "MTVE." The move puts Motive, which previously operated under the name Keep Truckin, among a fast-growing group of tech companies looking to go public in 2026. Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX have all reportedly considered making their shares widely available for trading next year. The loss widened from $41.3 million in the same quarter of 2024, while revenue grew about 23% year over year. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 36 points, or less than 0.1%. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

This is CNBC's Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox. The U.S. economy expanded more than economists expected, the Commerce Department said in a government shutdown-delayed report. Stock futures and Treasury yields were little changed Wednesday morning after the S&P 500 hit another record as investors shook off concerns that stronger-than-expected GDP growth would chill the Fed's plans to lower interest rates. Tech stocks like Alphabet, Nvidia, Broadcom and Amazon buoyed the market. Precious metals held onto their luster, continuing a record rally. Across the pond, BP agreed to sell a 65% stake in its lubricants business Castrol to Stonepeak for $6 billion, months after the oil giant sought a buyer for the unit. ET for Christmas Eve, while bond markets are set to close at 2 p.m. The Trump administration said it will start garnishing the wages of student loan borrowers in default in early January. It would mark the first time student borrowers' paychecks have been at risk since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, when collections were halted. Starting the week of Jan. 7, the Education Department expects around 1,000 defaulted student loan borrowers to receive notices of administrative wage garnishment, a spokesperson said. More than 5 million student loan borrowers are currently in default, the Education Department said earlier this year. The U.S. plans to increase tariffs on Chinese semiconductor imports in June 2027, the Trump administration said in a Federal Register filing. The decision to delay new tariffs for at least 18 months signals that the Trump administration is seeking to cool any trade hostilities between the U.S. and China. Enterprise software giant ServiceNow will acquire cybersecurity startup Armis in a cash deal valued at $7.75 billion, part of a plan to boost its cybersecurity capabilities in the age of artificial intelligence. "ServiceNow will have the only AI control tower that drives workflow, action and business outcomes across all of these environments," CEO Bill McDermott told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street." Alphabet-owned Waymo said it's updating its fleet so its vehicles are better prepared to respond during future outages, days after a blackout in San Francisco caused Waymo to pause its driverless car service. — CNBC's Pia Singh, Annie Nova, Jessica Dickler, Luke Fountain, Samantha Subin, Kai Nicol-Schwarz, Jeff Cox, Fred Imbert, Kif Leswing and Ari Levy contributed to this report. We want to hear from you. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Sanofi said on Wednesday it will buy U.S. biotech Dynavax Technologies for around $2.2 billion (1.9 billion euros) in an agreed deal that will add an adult hepatitis B vaccine and a promising experimental shingles shot to its portfolio. The acquisition will help the French drugmaker diversify its vaccine business at a time when U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is remaking policy for childhood immunisation, industry analysts say. The Trump administration has dropped a long-standing universal recommendation for hepatitis B vaccination in infants, drawing an outcry from the medical community, and is considering other changes for 2026. "We believe the acquisition makes sense given growing regulatory concerns around vaccines," said William Blair analyst Matt Phipps. "Sanofi is a logical acquisition partner for Dynavax given the company has extensive vaccine capabilities but the portfolio does not have an adult hepatitis B or shingles program." Sanofi has been seeking new products to drive revenue growth once its blockbuster asthma drug Dupixent goes off patent in 2031. It bought British private vaccine developer Vicebio for $1.5 billion in July after finalising an up to $9.5 billion deal for Blueprint Medicines. It will pay $15.50 per Dynavax share, representing a 39% premium over the vaccine maker's closing share price of $11.13 on Tuesday. Phipps said this was below his estimated value for the U.S. biotech's hepatitis B shot, Heplisav-B, of $2.6 billion. The deal would not affect its 2025 financial outlook, it added. Earlier this year, Sanofi and British rival GSK noted pressure in the U.S. flu vaccine market, while Australian biotech CSL delayed plans to spin off its vaccine division citing "heightened volatility" and a greater than expected decline in U.S. immunization rates. It is administered in two doses, one month apart, compared to other vaccines that are given in three doses over six months. Analysts expect peak annual sales of $609 million in the U.S. The deal will also add an experimental shingles vaccine to Sanofi's existing products that include flu and polio shots as well as the antibody therapy Beyfortus for the respiratory syncytial virus. J.P. Morgan analysts said Dynavax's experimental shot, Z-1018, could boost revenues beyond 2030 for Sanofi, if early data on its safety and effectiveness is replicated in larger trials. It could take a share in the shingles market, where GSK's top-selling Shingrix is on track to generate sales of 4 billion euros this year, the analysts added. Separately, Sanofi said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had declined to approve its experimental drug tolebrutinib to slow disability progression in patients with a form of multiple sclerosis. "Today's FDA decision is a significant and meaningful change in direction from the feedback the agency previously provided to Sanofi. We are very disappointed by the FDA's action," Ashrafian said in a press release. The decision adds to a year of data from Sanofi's experimental drugs for eczema and smoker's lung that disappointed investors. Sanofi's shares have largely underperformed the broader European sector index. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Sanofi said on Wednesday it will buy U.S. biotech Dynavax Technologies for around $2.2 billion (1.9 billion euros) in an agreed deal that will add an adult hepatitis B vaccine and a promising experimental shingles shot to its portfolio. The acquisition will help the French drugmaker diversify its vaccine business at a time when U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is remaking policy for childhood immunisation, industry analysts say. The Trump administration has dropped a long-standing universal recommendation for hepatitis B vaccination in infants, drawing an outcry from the medical community, and is considering other changes for 2026. "We believe the acquisition makes sense given growing regulatory concerns around vaccines," said William Blair analyst Matt Phipps. "Sanofi is a logical acquisition partner for Dynavax given the company has extensive vaccine capabilities but the portfolio does not have an adult hepatitis B or shingles program." Sanofi has been seeking new products to drive revenue growth once its blockbuster asthma drug Dupixent goes off patent in 2031. It bought British private vaccine developer Vicebio for $1.5 billion in July after finalising an up to $9.5 billion deal for Blueprint Medicines. It will pay $15.50 per Dynavax share, representing a 39% premium over the vaccine maker's closing share price of $11.13 on Tuesday. Phipps said this was below his estimated value for the U.S. biotech's hepatitis B shot, Heplisav-B, of $2.6 billion. The deal would not affect its 2025 financial outlook, it added. Earlier this year, Sanofi and British rival GSK noted pressure in the U.S. flu vaccine market, while Australian biotech CSL delayed plans to spin off its vaccine division citing "heightened volatility" and a greater than expected decline in U.S. immunization rates. It is administered in two doses, one month apart, compared to other vaccines that are given in three doses over six months. Analysts expect peak annual sales of $609 million in the U.S. The deal will also add an experimental shingles vaccine to Sanofi's existing products that include flu and polio shots as well as the antibody therapy Beyfortus for the respiratory syncytial virus. J.P. Morgan analysts said Dynavax's experimental shot, Z-1018, could boost revenues beyond 2030 for Sanofi, if early data on its safety and effectiveness is replicated in larger trials. It could take a share in the shingles market, where GSK's top-selling Shingrix is on track to generate sales of 4 billion euros this year, the analysts added. Separately, Sanofi said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had declined to approve its experimental drug tolebrutinib to slow disability progression in patients with a form of multiple sclerosis. "Today's FDA decision is a significant and meaningful change in direction from the feedback the agency previously provided to Sanofi. We are very disappointed by the FDA's action," Ashrafian said in a press release. The decision adds to a year of data from Sanofi's experimental drugs for eczema and smoker's lung that disappointed investors. Sanofi's shares have largely underperformed the broader European sector index. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy could see how dramatically artificial intelligence was altering e-commerce. Four months later, Jassy said on an earnings call that Amazon expects to partner with third-party agents, and has engaged in conversations with some providers, though he didn't offer names. Amazon's rapid evolution in its view of AI-powered commerce underscores how quickly online retail is changing, and the risks the company faces if it doesn't act aggressively to maintain control over its future. The company has watched as OpenAI, Google, Perplexity and Microsoft have released a flurry of e-commerce agents in recent months that aim to change how people shop. The first shopping agents from AI leaders were released about a year ago. Consulting firm McKinsey projected that agentic commerce could generate $1 trillion in U.S. retail revenue by 2030. "With an agent on ChatGPT, retailers risk relinquishing transactions on their site to pay a toll on someone else's highway for the same transaction," Sucharita Kodali, a retail analyst at Forrester, said in an interview. Some companies are trying to find a middle ground between working with agent providers and competing against them. Walmart, Shopify and others have adopted a frenemy strategy, announcing partnerships with AI companies while continuing to develop their own tools and setting guardrails around how agents can access their sites. Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke wrote in a post on X on Tuesday that his company is "building all the layers of infrastructure to power a new cambrian explosion of creativity in shopping." "There is so much amazing stuff being built. Everything I test just feels delightful and right." The company recently updated the code underpinning its website to block external AI agents from crawling it, part of an effort to wall off its valuable training data from rivals. As of Tuesday, Amazon had blocked 47 bots, including those from all the major AI companies, according to its website. In November, Amazon sued Perplexity over an agent in the startup's Comet browser that allows it to make purchases on a user's behalf. The company alleged Perplexity took steps to "conceal" its agents so they could continue to scrape Amazon's website without its approval. Meanwhile, Amazon is investing heavily in its own AI products. The company released a shopping chatbot called Rufus last February, and has been testing an agent called Buy For Me, which can purchase products from other sites directly in Amazon's e-commerce app. Morgan Stanley expects that by 2030, nearly half of American shoppers will use AI agents and the technology could add up to $115 billion in U.S. e-commerce spending. "We believe agentic commerce — in effect the ability to have a personal digital interactive shopper — is set to be the best next substantial GenAI-enabled unlock," Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a report in November. They noted that a mid-single-digit percentage of consumers currently start their "purchase journey" through AI, but that could increase over time as roughly 40% to 50% of Americans currently use AI for product research. Traffic from AI chatbots to U.S. retail sites has surged in recent months, especially during the holiday season, but research suggests Google search still performs better in terms of conversion rate and revenue per session. OpenAI's Instant Checkout tool, launched in ChatGPT in September, is only available for some products sold by Walmart, Shopify, Target and Etsy. Users can only purchase one item at a time, and they can't connect loyalty memberships like Walmart+. Scot Wingo, founder of e-commerce software startup ReFiBuy, recently tested Perplexity's Instant Buy tool that lets users purchase items directly in its search engine. Wingo tried to purchase a cable-knit sweater from Abercrombie & Fitch, but Perplexity's agent repeatedly spit out error messages, even though both products were in stock on the retailer's website. "These crawlers go out, they pull in this data and you never know exactly what they're going to get," Wingo said. Subsidiaries like shoe seller Zappos, fashion site Shopbop and deals site Woot don't appear to have any language blocking agents in their robots.txt files, which dictate how crawlers can access specific webpages. "A lot of times they'll use the subsidiaries to experiment," Wingo said. "Zappos has its own experience and database, so it's not like they're letting all the horses out of the barn." The company could ultimately take a page from its rivals if it decides to let agents access its primary e-commerce platform. Amazon may be willing to let agents access its catalog, but it likely wants to protect more valuable data from its competitors, Wingo said, such as its vast trove of customer reviews and sales rankings, both of which indicate a product's quality and can help improve an AI chatbot's answers. Amazon isn't giving up on its homegrown tools. Rufus' capabilities have improved since Amazon first launched it last year, and the company has been surfacing the chatbot across more areas of its site to drive user adoption. Amazon also began testing a feature in recent weeks that allows Rufus to create custom shopping guides, similar to OpenAI's "shopping research" tool launched last month. "Instead of the innovator's dilemma, I would say Amazon is in what I would call the leader's dilemma," said Jordan Berke, founder and CEO of retail consulting firm Tomorrow. "Their market share is so significant that they have the most to lose." WATCH: How Amazon came to dominate the U.S. apparel market Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

European leaders on Wednesday condemned a move by the U.S. to ban visas for five individuals — including a former EU commissioner — for alleged censorship. The Trump administration imposed visa bans on Thierry Breton, a former European Union commissioner behind the Digital Services Act (DSA), and four anti-disinformation campaigners, accusing them of censoring U.S. social media platforms. "The State Department is taking decisive action against five individuals who have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. The DSA forces tech giants like Google and Meta to police illegal content more aggressively, or face hefty fines. Rubio added that "these radical activists and weaponized NGOs have advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states—in each case targeting American speakers and American companies." As such, their entry to the U.S. has "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences," he said. "Based on these determinations, the Department has taken steps to impose visa restrictions on agents of the global censorship-industrial complex who, as a result, will be generally barred from entering the United States." Breton, who served as EU commissioner between 2019 and 2024, wrote on X: "Is McCarthy's witch hunt back?" He added: "As a reminder: 90% of the European Parliament — our democratically elected body — and all 27 Member States unanimously voted the DSA." "Freedom of expression is a fundamental right in Europe and a shared core value with the United States across the democratic world," it said in a statement, adding that "the EU is an open, rules-based single market, with the sovereign right to regulate economic activity in line with our democratic values and international commitments." "Our digital rules ensure a safe, fair, and level playing field for all companies, applied fairly and without discrimination." The Commission has asked for clarifications from U.S. authorities, it said. "Freedom of speech is the foundation of our strong and vibrant European democracy," said current EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on X. French President Emmanuel Macron said that his country condemns the visa restrictions. "These measures amount to intimidation and coercion aimed at undermining European digital sovereignty," he said in a statement on X. It comes as President Donald Trump continues to ramp up travel restrictions for foreign visitors and criticizes Europe. Rubio did not identify who his department had taken action against, however Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers later did so on X. Josephine Ballon, the co-leader of HateAid who serves on Germany's Advisory Council of the Digital Services, was among those working on anti-disinformation campaigns to receive sanctions. Her co-leader Anna-Lena von Hodenberg was also affected. CNBC has reached out to Ballon and Von Hodenberg for comment. In an interview with GB news on Dec. 4, Rogers took aim at the U.K.'s Online Safety Act (OSA), saying the law was being applied extraterritorially, accounting for U.S. citizens' speech about U.S. politics on U.S.-based platforms. OSA law requires age verification on adult sites and a number of other platforms. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

LONDON — European markets closed mixed on Wednesday as investors took stock of the volatile year during Christmas Eve's shortened trading session. The pan-European Stoxx 600 finished just below the flatline, with major bourses mixed before Wednesday's early close at 12.30 p.m. in London (7:30 a.m. The benchmark reached a new record closing high on Tuesday, buoyed by Copenhagen-listed Novo Nordisk's booming share price after it gained FDA approval for the first-ever GLP-1 pill. Novo Nordisk's share price continued to climb on Wednesday, closing the session 9.2% higher. French pharmaceutical company Sanofi on Tuesday announced it will acquire U.S. company Dynavax in a deal worth $2.2 billion. Dynavax has a marketed adult hepatitis B vaccine and a shingles vaccine candidate in the works. Sportswear brand Puma was among Wednesday's movers as its share price fell 1.6%. The German firm announced a 500-million-euro bridge loan and 108 million euros in credit on Dec. 18, and was the subject of takeover rumors earlier this month. Gold and silver futures were on a tear this week, having hit fresh highs during both Monday and Tuesday's trading sessions. Thierry Breton, a former European Union commissioner behind the Digital Services Act, and anti-disinformation campaigners received visa bans from the U.S. for allegedly censoring U.S. social media platforms. It comes as President Donald Trump continues to ramp up travel restrictions for foreign visitors and criticizes Europe. "For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose. The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X, though he did not identify anyone. Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers later identified the five people affected. Elsewhere, Asia-Pacific markets traded mostly higher as several indexes are set to close early because of the Christmas Eve holiday. U.S. stock futures traded near the flatline overnight despite the S&P 500 also notching a record close. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Japan's Sapporo Holdings will sell its real estate business to global private equity firm KKR and Asia-based alternative investment firm PAG, the companies said in joint statement on Wednesday. Sapporo said the enterprise value of the deal, which includes debt, was 477 billion yen (about $3 billion). The company's real estate holdings include the Yebisu Garden Place in Tokyo, a popular tourist destination that consists of the Yebisu Brewery as well as fine dining and shopping options. Known for its beer brewing business, Sapporo is looking to concentrate management resources on its core operations, and plans to use the funds generated from the sale to invest in its beer business and other areas. "Sapporo Holdings will focus on and further strengthen its alcoholic beverages business, where it has competitive advantages," the statement said. Proceeds from the sale will also be reinvested into initiatives to strengthen customer touchpoints and expand offerings such as healthier beverage choices The company's shares closed 3.7% higher following the announcement, while KKR stock was slightly lower in after-hours trading. "We are pleased to collaborate with PAG to support the Company's next stage of growth, and look forward to sharing our global network, investment experience and deep operational expertise in development, operations, and hospitality across KKR's global platform," said Hiro Hirano, CEO of KKR Japan. Back in October, Nikkei reported that the company had granted preferential negotiating rights to KKR and PAG, only to end exclusive talks the next month. At that time, Sapporo had opened the sale to other buyers and was reportedly approaching a consortium made up of private equity funds Lone Star Funds and real estate fund manager Kenedix. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Three days after a blackout in San Francisco caused Waymo to pause its driverless car service, the Alphabet-owned company said it's updating its fleet so its vehicles are better prepared to respond during future outages. Power outages began early afternoon on Saturday in San Francisco and peaked roughly two hours later, affecting about 130,000 customers, according to Pacific Gas and Electric. As of Sunday morning, about 21,000 customers remained without power. Videos shared on social media appeared to show multiple Waymo vehicles stalled in traffic in various neighborhoods. "We directed our fleet to pull over and park appropriately so we could return vehicles to our depots in waves," Waymo said in Tuesday's blog post. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said in an update on X Saturday evening that police officers, fire crews, parking control officers and city ambassadors were deployed across affected neighborhoods. Waymo said that it's analyzing the event, and is taking three "immediate steps." The first involves "fleet-wide updates" to give vehicles "more context about regional outages," so cars can take more decisive actions at intersections. The company said it's also improving its "emergency response protocols," and is coordinating with Mayor Lurie's team in San Francisco to better collaborate in emergency preparedness. Finally, Waymo said it's updating its first responder training "as we discover learnings from this and other widespread events." In addition to the Bay Area, Waymo currently serves paid rides to the public in and around Austin, Texas, Phoenix, Atlanta and Los Angeles. The company recently crossed an estimated 450,000 weekly paid rides, and said in December it had served 14 million trips in 2025, putting it on pace to end the year at more than 20 million trips total since launching in 2020. "Backed by 100M+ miles of fully autonomous driving experience and a record of improving road safety, we are undaunted by the opportunity to challenge the status quo of our roads, and we're proud to continue serving San Franciscan residents and visitors," the company said in Tuesday's blog. — CNBC's Lora Kolodny and Jennifer Elias contributed to this report. WATCH: Waymo service resumes after errors cause issues in San Francisco Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

In 2017, Thomas Kelly graduated from medical school and finally became a doctor — a career he had dreamt about as a kid and spent years working towards. But once he started practicing, Kelly realized that the job was different from what he'd imagined. "My time as a doctor [was] very constrained. I only get 10 minutes for the patient," he told CNBC Make It. "I was finding I had, you know, 100 patients to see in a day, and [was] always in a rush and always coordinating 700 tests and a million tasks." However, the reality is that, like many other clinicians, he faced "incredible burnout" working in the field. Inspired to tackle this problem, Kelly created an AI tool that helps transcribe medical visits, generates clinical notes and more, with the goal of lessening the load on doctors and clinicians. The company announced its $65 million Series B round in October, valuing the company at $465 million. Growing up in Melbourne, Australia, Kelly was inspired by his primary care doctor to pursue medicine. "I just loved my primary care doctor ... He was like, the pinnacle of using your intelligence and knowledge for good," said Kelly. He was very warm, great bedside manner, but also, just incredibly sharp and intelligent always." During university, he explored other interests such as math and computer science before ultimately deciding to go into medicine. While studying medicine, Kelly also started a side hustle where he posted educational videos on YouTube and tutored students interested in getting into medicine. To his surprise, the videos began to attract many students, more than he could handle at the time, and what started as a hobby steadily grew into a small business. To better manage his time during his tutoring business, Kelly began experimenting with building out artificial intelligence tools. "The first AI product I ever tried to build was an interview tutor that people could practice with," said Kelly. This tool, called "Oscar" allowed students to practice conversations with a medical interviewer, and by 2020, about 20,000 students were using it, he added. As Oscar improved, Kelly began to notice its broader potential. It's a very advanced, very technical, deep, complicated conversation, but it's still a conversation." By 2021, Kelly was faced with a big decision: go all-in on his medical career and begin vascular surgery training or take a career break and try to build out his AI tool to help serve not just medical students but also clinicians and doctors. How many surgical trainees are good enough in math and have had business experience and can build this product? "Maybe it was hubris, but I thought if anyone can start this company, it would be me, and let's try and see what happens," he said. So in 2021, Kelly officially left his medical career behind and went all-in on building Heidi. Today, the tool assists in helping doctors offload some administrative tasks such as creating documentation, clinical notes and more. "At some point I just [did the] introspection ... if you're sitting in an aged care home and your family's around you, what are the things you're going to regret? And for me, it was, I definitely would have regretted not having tried," said Kelly. Want to give your kids the ultimate advantage? Sign up for CNBC's new online course, How to Raise Financially Smart Kids. Learn how to build healthy financial habits today to set your children up for greater success in the future. Get Make It newsletters delivered to your inbox Learn more about the world of CNBC Make It