AI safety warnings send technology and chip stocks lower
Technology shares fell as AI executives and researchers called for a slower, more cautious approach to developing advanced systems.
Technology and chip stocks fell on Monday as warnings about the risks of advanced artificial intelligence coincided with a sharp market retreat. The Nasdaq was down roughly 0.8% in early trading, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell more than 4%.
The sell-off followed calls from Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei for a slower pace of frontier AI development. Amodei argued that safety measures need time to keep up with advances in model capabilities.
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said he agreed with Amodei, while Elon Musk endorsed the position and reiterated his earlier warnings about AI risks. The comments did not amount to an agreed halt in development, but raised questions about whether the industry’s rapid expansion could continue at its current pace.
The warnings followed posts about the departure of Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who said AI companies were racing to create self-improving systems. Anthropic alignment science lead Evan Hubinger said he believed there was a greater-than-10% chance advanced AI could “kill all humans”. That assessment is an opinion attributed to Hubinger, rather than an established fact.
AI-linked shares including Marvell, SK Hynix, CoreWeave, SanDisk, Intel and AMD also declined in pre-market trading. Reuters reported on Monday that Microsoft was developing its own code of conduct for AI models, although details were not provided.
The timing links the warnings with the market moves, but the material does not establish that the comments directly caused the falls. The index figures are approximate early-trading moves rather than closing results.
