CEOs of three leading AI labs, Anthropic, OpenAI, and xAI, have rarely called for the industry to slow down the development of cutting-edge models at the same time. Following this news, AI concept stocks fell sharply, with chip stocks like Nvidia, AMD, Intel, and Marvell experiencing significant declines. Nasdaq 100 index futures dropped over 1.7% at one point.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei explicitly requested AI companies to "slow down the pace of advancing model capabilities"; Elon Musk publicly supported Amodei's stance; OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also expressed support for slowing down development—this marks the first time the CEOs of the three most important AI labs globally have publicly aligned on the "slow down" issue.

In pre-market trading, Intel fell nearly 6%, Marvell Technology dropped close to 6%, AMD fell about 5%, Nvidia declined over 2%, and Meta and Amazon both fell more than 1%; Nasdaq 100 index futures plummeted by 505.5 points (down 1.72%), and S&P 500 futures dropped by 53.25 points (down 0.70%); the Asia-Pacific market was also affected, with SoftBank's stock price plummeting by up to 13%, the KOSPI index in South Korea declining, and chip stocks like SK Hynix under pressure, while TSMC's stock fell in Taiwan.

The pre-IPO valuation of OpenAI (IG platform pre-market contracts) has shrunk by about $70 billion from recent highs, as the market had already been pressured by Altman's statement that there was no rush for an IPO in 2026; SoftBank, a significant shareholder in OpenAI, saw its stock price drop sharply, reflecting investors' reassessment of the value of its AI-related holdings.

Not everyone agrees with the motives behind the "slow down" call—well-known short-seller Michael Burry publicly questioned whether such calls might be a means for "leading players to suppress smaller competitors under the guise of safety"; Annex Wealth Management strategist Brian Jacobsen reminded that "the most convincing cautious arguments should be based on evidence, not fear".

The Chinese government quickly responded and opposed this statement—Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiajun stated that "spreading fear, creating confrontation, and fostering vicious competition will only disrupt the global AI governance process and do not serve the interests of any party"; the Chinese Ministry of Commerce countered that the U.S. is pursuing "industry monopoly" in the AI field, and state media characterized Amodei's statement as a "Cold War script" implying containment; it is reported that Trump and Xi Jinping plan to discuss AI governance on September 24, indicating that this "slow down call" has escalated from an internal industry discussion to a new competitive issue between China and the U.S.

Source: Public Information