AI-linked stocks fell sharply on Monday after the heads of Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX called for a slowdown in what they described as “reckless” AI development, warning that the technology could soon spiral out of control. Anthropic's Dario Amodei urged the industry to "slow down" and warned that swarms of AI agents could cause hundreds of billions of dollars of damage. However, Donald Trump dismissed the concerns as a "sick conspiracy" designed to benefit China, and told an AI conference audience that fears of AI "taking over the world" were a "hoax". The episode highlights growing tension between industry leaders' own safety warnings and political resistance to regulation, at a time when investors are increasingly nervous about the huge sums being poured into AI infrastructure.

Nvidia shares fell 3.3%, AMD dropped 4%, and Micron and Sandisk slumped 5%, dragging the Nasdaq down 0.5%. The sell-off spread globally: SoftBank, a major OpenAI backer, plunged 13%, South Korea's Kospi index fell 3%, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company dropped 1.2%, and Europe's ASML slumped 6%. Sam Altman, Demis Hassabis and Elon Musk all backed Amodei's essay, "We Must Pace the Frontier", while companies seen as threatened by AI, such as WPP and Relx, saw their shares rise 5%. Separately, UK MPs and peers flagged human rights risks from AI on Monday, and China's top intelligence official warned that US models could threaten the country's information security.