AI Safety Warnings Trigger Tech Stock Selloff

U.S. technology stocks fell sharply in premarket trading on Monday after leading artificial intelligence executives called for a slowdown in the development of powerful AI models, citing safety concerns. The warnings from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, supported by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk, triggered a broad selloff in semiconductor and AI-related companies, adding to market pressure from rising oil prices and expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike. Futures tied to the Nasdaq 100 index led the declines, falling 1.7% before the market opened. Shares of Nvidia, a key supplier of AI chips, dropped more than 2%, while Intel and AMD fell nearly 6% and 5%, respectively. Other affected companies included Marvell Technology, Micron, and SanDisk. The downturn reflected investor reassessment of the rapid growth trajectory that has fueled a multi-year rally in technology stocks. The market reaction followed a weekend essay by Amodei, who argued that AI companies must "pace the frontier" to allow safety measures to keep pace with advancing capabilities.