AI Stocks Plunge as Lab CEOs Call for Development Slowdown

Artificial intelligence-linked stocks fell sharply across Asian markets on Monday after the chief executives of leading AI labs called for a deliberate slowdown in the development of advanced models, citing safety risks. The coordinated statements from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and xAI CEO Elon Musk triggered a broad sell-off in technology shares, with major chipmakers and investors bearing the brunt of the decline. Amodei published an essay over the weekend urging AI companies to slow the rate at which they advance model capabilities, warning that building AI too fast is reckless. He outlined a three-step plan involving balanced development, industry-wide safety coordination, and global cooperation between democratic and authoritarian states. Altman and Musk publicly expressed agreement with the call for a pause. The market reaction was immediate. In Japan, shares of SoftBank, a major OpenAI investor, tumbled as much as 13.2 percent. Memory chipmaker Kioxia plunged 9.8 percent, and Tokyo Electron fell 3.7 percent. In South Korea, SK Hynix slid 5.3 percent and Samsung Electronics dropped 3.7 percent, dragging the KOSPI index down 3.7 percent.