AI stocks sink while cybersecurity shares rally on slowdown fears

BREAKING: AI stocks sink and cybersecurity shares rally after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says the industry 'must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models', Micron and Nvidia fall while Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike jump over 13%.

The man who builds AI just told everyone to slow down, and Wall Street believed him.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei wrote over the weekend that the industry must slow the pace of improving AI models, and Sam Altman and Elon Musk both agreed with him. This is him, the person with the most to gain from the boom, pumping the brakes on it.

Monday's tape did exactly what you'd expect. Micron, Intel and Applied Materials all dropped more than four percent, Nvidia fell about three, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise got hit for eleven. Meanwhile the cybersecurity names went vertical. Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike both jumped over thirteen percent, because if AI is scary enough to slow down, someone has to guard it.

The backdrop matters. An Anthropic researcher quit last week saying the labs are gambling with our lives. When the people inside the building start leaving, the market listens.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.