Tech firms tumbled Monday after executives at companies driving the AI boom backed calls to slow development of the technology amid growing warnings that it could threaten humanity.
Global equity markets fell Monday, weighed down by renewed oil price shocks and mounting concerns over artificial intelligence, AFP reports.
Losses deepened after Saudi Arabia shut a key pipeline, sending crude above $100 a barrel, while US inflation data reinforced expectations of a Federal Reserve rate hike this week.
In Asia, chipmakers led the sell‑off after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei urged AI firms to “pace the frontier” — slowing development to better assess risks such as recursive self‑improvement, where systems can design their own successors.
“Left unchecked, it could outrun our ability to understand and control these systems,” he warned. OpenAI’s Sam Altman and xAI’s Elon Musk backed his call, with Musk saying, “Dario is right.”
The remarks followed a researcher’s resignation from Anthropic over fears the technology could escape human control, and another insider’s claim that the chance of AI wiping out humanity was “greater than 10 percent within the next decade.”
Despite US President Donald Trump dismissing the warnings and House Speaker Mike Johnson urging calm, investors dumped tech shares. Tokyo‑listed SoftBank plunged more than 12 per cent, while Kioxia fell over seven percent and Advantest more than two percent.
South Korea’s SK hynix and Samsung also dropped sharply. The Kospi led regional declines, with Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taipei, and Manila lower, while Sydney, Singapore, and Wellington posted gains.
The sell‑off was compounded by expectations of tighter US monetary policy. Markets see a 92 per cent chance of a Fed hike Wednesday, with 50 basis points of cumulative tightening priced in by year‑end. Analysts warned that rising Treasury yields and a sustained hiking cycle could further pressure risk assets.
Meanwhile, Middle East tensions pushed oil higher. Riyadh closed its East‑West pipeline after drone strikes by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, while a merchant vessel was hit in the Strait of Hormuz. The Houthis have tightened control of the Bab al‑Mandab strait, a vital shipping lane linking Europe and Asia.
The disruption sent US diesel prices above $6 a gallon Friday, a sharp blow to transport and agriculture. Oman also postponed talks between Iran and Gulf states on the future of the strategic waterway, underscoring risks to global energy flows.
