Wall Street In Shock After AI Slowdown Call, Nvidia, Intel Trade In Red

US Stocks fell on Monday as markets opened for the first time after a call by artificial intelligence leaders to slow down on AI development. Nasdaq fell by 305.17 points or 1.05 per cent at 29,060.42, while Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2 per cent to 52,475.25.

Meanwhile, the S&P 5000 fell by 0.54 per cent to 7,615.51.

Shares of AI giants including Nvidia, AMD and CoreWeave were trading in red.

This comes after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Saturday called for a coordinated slowdown on AI development to have a better understanding of its risks. His proposal was backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI CEO Elon Musk, who is the richest person in the world.

Shares of Nvidia, the largest company in the world by market value, was down 3.5 per cent at $210.65 at 8:07 IST. Earlier, the stock fell to a day's low of $208.93. 

Meanwhile, shares of Intel plunged by 6.8 per cent to $95.95, after falling to a day's low of $94.52 apiece. The stocks had closed at $102.94 apiece on Friday, a day before the AI slowdown call. Other AI giants including AMD, CoreWeaves, and Marvell Technology also traded in red.

AI stocks have been under pressure a while because of worries their prices shot too high in the frenzy around the technology. The call to pace AI growth has only added to the scare.

Earlier on Monday, Asian shares were also trading lower as shares of AI-related stocks, including Open AI investor SoftBank, declined following the slowdown calls. Shares of the company plummeted by as much as 10.7 per cent. 

South Korea's Kospi index lost 3.3 per cent to 6,684.37. Japan's Nikkei 225 index slid 0.8 per cent to 63,492.99.

The AI stock rout comes days after Amodei's call for a slowdown. "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 post on his website.

His call garnered support from Altman and Musk, both CEOs of rival companies.

On Friday, Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 gained 0.9 per cent, ending its four-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1 per cent, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite climbed 1 per cent.