Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, published an essay on Saturday urging a slowdown in the pace of advanced AI development. On Monday, shares tied to AI and semiconductors fell worldwide, with declines felt from Asia to Europe.
Market moves
- In South Korea, SK Hynix shares dropped by more than 6%, and Samsung Electronics fell by over 4%.
- In Japan, SoftBank, one of OpenAI's largest investors, closed about 10% lower.
- In Europe, semiconductor and AI-related stocks fell sharply after the market opened: ASML lost more than 4%, Nokia about 5%, and Infineon more than 6%.
- Companies involved in data-center construction, including Siemens Energy and Schneider Electric, also saw weaker share prices.
- Nasdaq futures, reflecting the technology-heavy US market, were down about 1.5% ahead of the open.
What triggered the sell-off?
The immediate catalyst was Amodei's public call to slow the development pace of AI models. Several other prominent technology leaders subsequently joined the appeal.
The call followed an internal controversy at Anthropic: Jacob Coxon, an Anthropic researcher who previously worked at OpenAI, announced his resignation, saying he believed the two companies were "playing with the lives of humanity." Afterwards, Anthropic security researcher Evan Hubinger stated he believes there is more than a 10% chance that AI could destroy humanity within the next decade.
Those statements provoked intense debate on social media and ultimately led Amodei to publicly advocate restraining development — a stance investors immediately began to price in.
Why this matters
Public concerns from senior figures about the pace of AI development can have immediate effects on investor sentiment, particularly for firms heavily exposed to large language models or to the semiconductor capacity that powers them. While daily price swings reflect short-term reactions, the ongoing debate could influence longer-term investment decisions and regulatory discussions.
Note
An AI assistant contributed to the preparation of this article; the final content was edited and verified by the journalist.
