Amodei, Altman slowdown calls hit AI stocks, but fears called overblown

The selloff in AI stocks followed warnings from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Elon Musk about the need to slow AI development over safety concerns. According to the article, the companies behind those calls — OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX — are burning through money and incurring high net losses each quarter, putting them in an unfavorable financial position if the AI build-out continues to accelerate. The article contrasts them with profitable hyperscalers like Meta and Microsoft, which bring in billions of dollars in pure profits every month, and suggests the calls may reflect a financial incentive rather than pure altruism.

The article also notes that key players in the AI bottleneck have pushed back. Broadcom CEO Hock Tan told CNBC the company stands by its long-term revenue targets, citing durable long-term demand. Iren CEO Daniel Roberts said current slowdown discussions do not alter the long-term AI data center thesis, adding that even if models never improved, rolling out existing capabilities would take more compute than the world can build for years.

The article argues the dip may be a buying opportunity, but the outcome hinges on whether actual policy changes follow the rhetoric. Any slowdown requirements would have to be passed by the Trump administration, which the article calls unlikely given Trump's public statements calling AI concerns a hoax. It remains to be seen whether the warning fades from the news cycle as the article predicts, or whether it gains traction with regulators.