European Shares Slide on AI Development Fears and Inflation Concerns

European shares fell on Monday as technology stocks came under pressure after leaders of top AI companies called for a slower pace of development. The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down 0.5 per cent at 635.99 points, with most regional markets declining.

The biggest losers were technology stocks, which plummeted 2.1 per cent as AI-linked shares slid globally. This decline was partly due to concerns over the misuse of AI capabilities. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called on Saturday for companies to slow advances in AI model capabilities, a view supported by xAI's Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

France-based chipmaker Soitec led the Stoxx 600's decliners with a 12.5 per cent drop. However, software stocks bucked the trend, gaining between 5 and 7.5 per cent.