Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called over the weekend for a deliberate, global slowdown in frontier AI development, citing safety issues including the risk that AI becomes capable of leading a swarm of agents that could take over the entire internet within six to 12 months, the Associated Press reported.
The call split the industry’s most prominent leaders. Elon Musk said he agrees with Amodei, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman likewise supported the concept of a slowdown, as did Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis, according to TechCrunch. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and President Donald Trump dismissed the idea. Trump weighed in again Tuesday at the UN General Assembly, pledging to “rein in” artificial intelligence if necessary — while opposing international regulation of the technology, according to the New York Post. He nicknamed the technology “Super Intelligence.” AI is also expected to be on the agenda when Trump meets Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington on Thursday, according to Investopedia.
Separately, an antitrust lawsuit was filed Friday in California accusing Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceX and Google of illegally colluding to slow the pace of their AI development, Investors.com reported.
Far from rattling markets, the AI trade powered a record rally. On Monday, the Nasdaq Composite surged 2.3% to a record close, the S&P 500 jumped 1.5% to within 0.4% of its own record, and the Dow rose 0.7%, according to Investopedia. Chipmakers and AI-linked names led: Meta Platforms soared 11% after its new AI agent, Muse, reached No. 1 on Apple’s App Store; AMD jumped 10% to top $1 trillion in market value; Arm Holdings surged 17%; Intel gained 12%.
The rally extended Tuesday: the Nasdaq touched an intraday record of 27,212.68 in early trading, eclipsing its June 1 high, according to Reuters. By around 12:50 p.m. ET, the Nasdaq was up 0.24% at 27,187.52, the S&P 500 was down 0.04% at 7,761.51, and the Dow had slipped 0.40% to 51,839.23, according to Google Finance. (Figures updated with midday market data; the Dow moved into negative territory since the morning.)
Retreating oil prices boosted risk appetite: WTI crude fell nearly 3% to about $93 a barrel, its fifth straight daily decline, and Brent eased to around $100 — a two-week low — as Iran signaled it could reopen the Strait of Hormuz soon, according to Investopedia and Reuters. The 10-year Treasury yield stood at 4.93%, down from 4.96% at Monday’s close, after hitting its highest level in nearly two decades last week, Investopedia reported.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted over four days and concluded Sunday found that 73% of Americans worry AI companies haven’t gone far enough to prevent AI from causing serious harm, Reuters reported. Thirty-nine percent said AI is having a negative impact on society — up from 36% last month and the highest share since Reuters/Ipsos began asking in March — while only 11% called it a positive. Most respondents said federal officials should play a major role in setting safety standards.
Anthropic’s landmark $1.5 billion copyright settlement was approved, and the company reportedly pushed its IPO to November, according to the Wall Street Journal via Investors.com. OpenAI expects negative free cash flow of $278 billion from 2026 to 2030, the Financial Times reported via Investors.com.
Sources: Investopedia, Investopedia, Reuters, Reuters, New York Post, Investors.com, TechCrunch
