The current earnings season shows S&P 500 earnings growing over 20%, but this strength is largely an artifact of accounting timing, specifically deferred AI capital expenditure depreciation. This "golden window" allows chipmakers to book immediate profits while hyperscalers defer costs over years. Analysts have unusually revised full-year earnings estimates upwards, a stark contrast to typical downward revisions. This surge in estimates implicitly overlooks the substantial AI capex depreciation that has not yet hit income statements. The five largest hyperscalers are spending hundreds of billions on capex, yet only a fraction is expensed as depreciation in the current year. This leads to a significant divergence between soaring net income and plummeting free cash flow, as seen with Alphabet. Analysts struggle to model future depreciation accurately due to new asset-heavy models, company discretion, and off-balance-sheet financing. The optimistic "V-shaped" recovery forecast for free cash flow hinges on an unproven capex taper and sustained revenue growth. Companies, like Alphabet, continue to increase future capital budgets, directly contradicting the anticipated slowdown. The market's high valuation of 22 times forward earnings does not fully account for these deferred costs, creating a higher true multiple. This concentration of earnings in a few AI-infrastructure names, coupled with earnings-quality risk, increases overall market vulnerability. Investors should manage risk by trimming over-performing positions, hedging exposures, and maintaining cash for potential disappointments when the inevitable depreciation wave materializes.