Several chief executives of leading US AI companies have warned that the pace of AI development must be slowed to prevent threats to humanity, triggering a sharp decline in AI-related stocks globally, according to IThome, citing Reuters.
In Asian trading, Nasdaq mini futures fell 1.3%. SoftBank, the investor in OpenAI, saw its shares plunge as much as 13.2% in Tokyo. Storage chip maker Kioxia dropped 9.8% at the open, while chip equipment maker TEL fell 3.7%. In Taipei, TSMC slipped 1.2%; in Seoul, SK Hynix dropped 6.35% and Samsung Electronics fell 4.05%.
CEOs Call for Caution
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei posted a lengthy essay on X over the weekend, urging AI companies to slow the pace of model capability iteration amid growing concerns about AI misuse. Elon Musk, who runs xAI, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman both expressed agreement with Amodei's view. Amodei wrote that within the next 6 to 12 months, AI agents could potentially take over the entire internet, causing economic losses of hundreds of billions of dollars.
Altman also said that OpenAI would not proceed with an IPO this year due to safety considerations. Anthropic, based in San Francisco, released a threat intelligence report on Thursday detailing how various actors have used its Claude model for activities including weapons development, cyber operations, surveillance, and fraud. The resignation of Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon further amplified public fears about AI's potential harms. He said, "People working on AI genuinely believe this technology could end humanity by the end of this decade." Altman has called the risk of human extinction from AI "unacceptable."
Market Reaction and Skepticism
In mainland China, memory chip maker CXMT fell 3.95%, and SMIC dropped 2.84%. In Hong Kong, Innolight fell as much as 6.7%, MiniMax dropped 7.8%, and Zhipu AI, the developer of the GLM model, plunged 10.5% after a discounted share placement.
Some investors disagree with the risk warnings. Michael Burry, who predicted the US housing market crash before 2008 and was featured in the film "The Big Short," called the warnings "hype and exaggeration" and "a pretext to cover up real growth stagnation." Others believe the warnings will continue to pressure markets. Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo Bank Singapore, said, "In the short term, these warnings will continue to weigh on AI and chip stocks. The valuations of these stocks are built on expectations of strong demand and rapid technological iteration. Once expectations are so high, even a possible delay in development progress can trigger profit-taking."
Sebastien Mallet, portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price in London, raised a more fundamental question: who will ultimately reap returns from the massive capital investment in computing capacity? He said, "There is no doubt that AI will change the world. But that does not mean every investment in it will yield substantial returns."
Since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022, AI-related trading has been a major driver of global stock market gains. However, recent incidents of rogue AI agents launching cyberattacks, coupled with public resistance to data center construction, have led to growing opposition. Two sources said that the US and Chinese governments plan to hold an AI safety dialogue under the framework of bilateral talks this month.
