# AI doom talk knocked chip stocks down

> A resignation post, a CEO essay, and a 10% extinction estimate turned into a 4% drop in semiconductor stocks.
- Title: AI doom talk knocked chip stocks down · Yahoo Finance
- Summary: A resignation post, a CEO essay, and a 10% extinction estimate turned into a 4% drop in semiconductor stocks. When the people building AI publicly ask…
- Keywords: ai safety, chip stocks, anthropic, openai, markets, business, finance, doom, talk, knocked, chip, stocks
- Source: Yahoo Finance — https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/live/tech-stocks-today-ai-warnings-send-shock-through-chip-stocks-140134624.html
- Author: Daniel Howley
- Published: 2026-09-14T19:49:59+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: ai safety, chip stocks, anthropic, openai, markets, business, finance
## Chips take the hit
The Nasdaq slipped about 0.8% in early Monday trading. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell more than 4%, a far sharper drop than the broad market.
## It started with a resignation
On Tuesday, Jacob Coxon quit Anthropic and posted on X that neither Anthropic nor OpenAI is acting responsibly, accusing both of racing toward self-improving superintelligence.

> The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.
## A safety lead agrees
Anthropic's Alignment Science Lead, Evan Hubinger, replied that Coxon is right and put a greater-than-10% chance on the technology killing all humans.

> kill all humans
## Amodei calls for a pause
On Saturday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay urging AI companies to slow frontier development. His worry is recursive self-improvement outrunning human control.

> could outrun our ability to understand and control these systems, and so must be pursued very carefully, if at all
## Altman and Musk pile on
OpenAI's Sam Altman said he agrees with Amodei. Elon Musk replied "Dario is right," then linked to his own 2023 post calling AGI a higher risk than nuclear weapons.

> AGI is significantly higher risk than nuclear weapons, in my opinion.
## Microsoft writes its own rules
Reuters reported Monday that Microsoft is building a code of conduct for its AI models, a sign the pullback is spreading past the two frontier labs.
## Why the market flinched
Traders started asking whether the AI buildout keeps running at its current pace. Slower frontier models means less demand for the silicon underneath them.
## Cybersecurity gets a bid
Money rotated toward AI defense. In premarket trading Okta rose 5%, while CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks each gained 4.5% as firms brace to protect their infrastructure.
## An analyst calls it strategy
D.A. Davidson's Gil Luria told Yahoo Finance the fear is overblown and self-serving. He reads the warnings as an attempt to invite regulation these labs can already absorb.

> There is no threat to humanity right now.
## Nobody slowed down alone
Luria's sharpest point: neither Amodei nor Altman said they were actually stopping. Both said they would slow only if everyone else did too.

> They both said, if everybody slows down, we will slow down.
## Trump rejects guardrails
The president posted on Truth Social that Washington already holds enough criminal and regulatory power over AI companies, singling out Amodei by name.

> The only control or "guardrails" that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT
## Key takeaway

When the people building AI publicly ask everyone to slow down, the market prices in a slower buildout, and the safety trade gets bid up.