Tech stocks tied to artificial intelligence fell on Monday after senior executives from Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX urged a slowdown in rapid AI development, warning the technology could soon grow beyond human control.
Market reaction was pronounced in companies integral to AI hardware and data processing. Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company and a key supplier of AI chips, closed down 3.3% in New York, while Advanced Micro Devices fell 4%. Memory and storage names also slid, with Micron Technology and Sandisk each down about 5%. The broader tech-heavy Nasdaq exchange-traded fund finished the day roughly 0.5% lower.
The executives’ public warnings about the risks of unchecked AI prompted the sell-off as investors weighed the prospects of tighter scrutiny, possible regulation and the broader implications for future growth in the sector. The appeals for a temporary slowdown framed some development as “reckless” and raised fresh questions about governance, safety and oversight as the technology advances.
The debate over controls quickly entered the political arena. Former US president Donald Trump dismissed efforts to impose greater restrictions on artificial intelligence as a “sick conspiracy,” underscoring the polarized response from political leaders to proposals for regulating the technology.
The episode highlights investor sensitivity to regulatory and reputational risks in AI, a fast-moving area that has already reshaped valuations across chipmakers, cloud providers and software firms. With executives, researchers and policymakers all weighing in publicly, market participants are closely monitoring how discussions about safety and oversight might translate into policy or affect demand for AI-related products and services.