SoftBank Shares Plunge as AI Industry Leaders Call for Development Slowdown
Tech stocks decline across Asia following warnings from Anthropic, OpenAI, and xAI executives regarding AI safety and control.
Quick Look
- SoftBank shares fell over 10% as tech leaders, including CEOs of Anthropic, OpenAI, and xAI, urged a slowdown in AI development to prioritize safety.
- The warnings, citing risks of recursive self-improvement, triggered a broader sell-off in Asian technology stocks.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
Leading AI executives are calling for a coordinated slowdown in the development of advanced AI models to address safety risks. The industry is currently facing scrutiny over the potential for AI to escape human control.
Shares in Japanese investment conglomerate SoftBank Group, a major investor in OpenAI, plunged more than 10% on Monday, alongside other technology shares, after executives at some of the world’s leading AI companies backed calls to prioritise “caution over speed and prudence over profit”.
The phrase was used by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who called on Saturday for AI companies to “pace the frontier” through a coordinated slowdown in the development of their most advanced models, allowing more time to understand and manage the risks.
Among his main concerns is so-called “recursive self-improvement”, in which AI systems help to build the next generation of AI models.
“Left unchecked, it could outrun our ability to understand and control these systems, and so must be pursued very carefully, if at all,” Amodei wrote.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI CEO Elon Musk publicly backed his warning, with Musk saying: “Dario is right.”
Altman also told Fortune in an interview published on Saturday that OpenAI would not proceed with an initial public offering this year, as the company focuses on safety.
OpenAI and Anthropic are both privately owned. Anthropic is reportedly preparing for a possible stock market listing in the coming months.
The comments followed the resignation of Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who warned that the technology could escape human control.
Evan Hubinger, another Anthropic researcher who remains at the company, subsequently wrote: “We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans!” He said he believed the probability was greater than 10% within the next decade.
US President Donald Trump rejected the warnings on Sunday, calling AI critics “very negative forces” and saying the scenarios they raised would not happen. House Speaker Mike Johnson also urged people not to panic.
Investors nevertheless sold technology shares on Monday.
SoftBank’s decline “probably reflects the possibility that AI development may be slowed by regulators to try to avoid the worst-case outcomes that Anthropic and OpenAI have discussed,” said Dan Baker of investment research firm Morningstar.
“And maybe [it] also reflects the possibility that any further examples of loss of control of newer AI models could also slow AI development,” he added.
Other AI-related shares in Asia also fell. South Korean memory-chip maker SK Hynix lost 5.3%, while Samsung Electronics dropped 2.8%. Japanese chip-equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron fell 0.9%, while memory-chip maker Kioxia Holdings sank 6%.
The race with China
Amodei also called for tighter restrictions on China’s access to advanced AI chips and semiconductor-manufacturing equipment, arguing that chips would largely determine the country’s AI capabilities.
However, he acknowledged to CBS News that the “toughest dilemma” was that China might not join a coordinated slowdown.
Open Questions
- Will regulators impose formal restrictions on AI development?
- Will China participate in a coordinated AI slowdown?
