AI Leaders Sound Alarm as Fed Rate Hike Looms and Oil Prices Soar

Tech companies took a hit on September 14 as leaders in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector called for a slowdown in development due to concerns over its potential risks. Chipmakers led the losses, with SoftBank plunging more than 12% and Kioxia shedding over 7%. The selling was also fueled by expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike on September 16 to combat stubbornly high inflation.

The AI leaders, including Anthropic's Dario Amodei, OpenAI's Sam Altman, and xAI's Elon Musk, expressed concerns over the potential dangers of recursive self-improvement, where AI can build its own next generation. They warned that if left unchecked, it could outrun human understanding and control.

The comments came after a researcher resigned from Anthropic over fears that the technology could escape human control. Another expert at the company stated publicly that 'we really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans' and thought the chances were greater than 10% within the next decade.