AI Stocks Plunge After Sam Altman, Elon Musk Back Calls to Slow Development

AI-linked stocks are falling sharply Monday after some of the industry’s most powerful leaders warned that artificial intelligence development may need to slow because of growing safety risks.

SoftBank, one of OpenAI’s biggest investors, plunged more than 10%, while shares of major chipmakers including SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics and TSMC also fell. Nasdaq futures dropped about 1.3% in Asian trading.

The selloff followed a warning from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who urged leading AI companies to reduce the speed at which they advance their most powerful models.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk publicly backed the call for a slower pace, adding to investor concerns that the rapid AI boom could face new limits, regulation or delays.

Altman also said OpenAI would not move ahead with an IPO this year because of safety concerns, according to Reuters.

The warnings have raised fresh questions about whether the huge amount of money flowing into AI, chips and data centers can continue producing the growth investors expect.

AI stocks have driven much of the global market rally in recent years, making Monday’s selloff especially significant as Wall Street prepares to open.