Investors weigh the potential cost of AI 'slowdown'

Calls to rein in the development of ever more powerful AI models are fuelling fears over the massive capital outlays in the sector – and the prospect that profits from the promised revolution might not be enough to cover them. AI optimism has been the primary driver of stock market gains over the past year, allowing valuations to stay sky high despite the fallout from the ongoing US war against Iran and surging energy prices. And "if American and European companies could print such strong earnings despite such an ugly geopolitical, fiscal and trade backdrop, it's because AI boosted investment, growth and productivity," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei was the latest to voice alarm, calling on Saturday for an industry-wide accord to "pace the frontier" to better control the breakneck progress, citing attacks by a swarm of AI agents going rogue. "It's my worry that in 6-12 months such a swarm could be capable of taking over the entire internet," potentially causing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage, he wrote in a 3,800-word "short post" on his website. His call garnered support from rivals Sam Altman at ChatGPT maker OpenAI and ...