Nasdaq futures slide as AI warnings rattle markets; Nvidia, other chip stocks retreat

By Niket Nishant and Tharuniyaa Lakshmi

Sept ‌14 (Reuters) - Futures tracking the ​Nasdaq ​100 index led early declines on Monday, dragged by a selloff in AI heavyweights after top U.S. executives called for a slowdown in the development of artificial-intelligence technology citing safety ‌concerns.

Shares of Nvidia fell more than 2% in premarket trading, while "Magnificent Seven" peer Amazon ⁠lost 1%.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Saturday called on artificial intelligence companies to slow the pace at which they advance model capabilities. ‌Elon Musk, who runs xAI, and ‌OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said they agreed with Amodei.

The declines reflect waning exuberance after a frenzied race to develop increasingly capable AI models gives way to a sober reassessment.

Billions of dollars poured into ​AI have powered a stratospheric rise in some technology and semiconductor stocks and have been critical to strong equity market gains over the past few years.

At 06:47 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis fell 81 points, ⁠or 0.15%, S&P 500 E-minis shed 51.75 points, or 0.68%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis lost 458.75 points, or 1.56%.

Chipmakers declined, with Intel, AMD and ​Marvell Technology down 5.5%, 5.1% and 7%, respectively.

Shares of U.S. software stocks, which have been dampened by concerns that AI could disrupt their businesses, climbed. ServiceNow, Adobe ​and Workday were up 4.3%, 2.4% and 2.6%, respectively.

SKEPTICS CHALLENGE ‌WARNINGS

Concerns about the potential harms of AI intensified when Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned last week and said the "people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill ⁠us all by the end of the decade."

Still, some investors urged skepticism about doomsday pronouncements.

Michael Burry, known for his successful bets against the U.S. housing market in 2008, posted on X that the warnings were an attempt by major players ⁠to stifle smaller competitors.

Annex Wealth Management Chief Economic Strategist Brian Jacobsen also questioned if the statements were credible.

"The strongest arguments ​for caution are those grounded in evidence, not fear. We should be wary both of incumbent firms seeking to protect their position and of confident predictions about outcomes that no one can reliably quantify," Jacobsen said.

Still, losses in technology stocks could ‌set the tone for markets ahead of a potential interest-rate hike later in the week, with traders pricing in a nearly 89% chance of a rate ‌increase by the U.S. Federal Reserve, according to CME's FedWatch.

Sentiment was already weakened after data last week showed U.S. inflation ⁠was accelerating.

Oil prices are also trading at ‌levels not seen since May. Brent ​crude futures rose 2.5% to $107.28 on Monday, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures advanced 2.3% to $102.39.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant and Tharuniyaa Lakshmi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and ‌Pooja Desai)

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