AI Safety Warnings From Tech Leaders Trigger Global Tech Stock Selloff

Global technology stocks fell sharply on Monday after three of the artificial intelligence industry's most prominent executives called for a slower pace of development, rattling investors who had poured billions into the sector on expectations of rapid progress. The selloff was triggered by an essay published over the weekend by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who argued that major AI companies should coordinate to slow the rate at which they increase model capabilities to allow safety measures to catch up. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk, who leads the AI company xAI, publicly endorsed the message, marking a rare point of agreement among three of the industry's fiercest rivals. The market reaction was swift and severe. In Asia, SoftBank, a major investor in OpenAI, saw its shares plunge as much as 13 percent in Tokyo. South Korea's benchmark KOSPI index, heavily influenced by chip suppliers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, fell more than 3 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 declined 1.1 percent, with memory chipmaker Kioxia dropping more than 7 percent. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world's largest chipmaker, fell 1.2 percent.