OpenAI pushes out IPO as AI leaders get nervous

The artificial intelligence sector is reflecting on the pace of its advances after Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei urged a slowdown in the pace of research as industry grapples with advances in a safe manner, getting support from his peers at SpaceX and OpenAI, the latter of which separately pushed out listing plans for this year.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump downplayed the growing fears about AI getting out of control, reiterating that America has to stay ahead of China in the technology’s development ahead of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month.

Central bank meetings are in focus this week after US core inflation ran a little hotter than expected, with the Federal Reserve expected to hike its benchmark rate on Wednesday in Washington.

And Australia’s ASX is set to open stronger today after Wall Street shrugged off the prospect of a rate hike on Friday, while local data today include the latest services sector activity gauge and Statistics New Zealand’s monthly travel and migration figures.

Self-reflection

AI sector leaders rallied behind Anthropic boss Amodei’s essay calling for slower development after a rapid acceleration in the pace of advances, with the Claude developer’s CEO saying the rate of self-improvement could soon outrun the ability of humans to control or understand what they were creating, and laying out a plan to coordinate AI development.

SpaceX chief Elon Musk, OpenAI boss Sam Altman and Google DeepMind chair Demis Hassabis voiced their support of the initiative, although US President Trump downplayed the growing fears about the risk posed by the technology, saying the US needed to stay ahead of China.

Meanwhile, OpenAI CEO Altman told Fortune that the ChatGPT developer won’t go public this year due to safety concerns, while Reuters reported Anthropic was in talks to bring on Nvidia as a cornerstone shareholder in its initial public offering, with Business Insider reporting the Claude developer picked the Nasdaq as its listing venue.

Stocks on Wall Street rallied on Friday even as slightly hotter US core inflation data firmed up expectations for a rate hike by the Fed this week, with the CME FedWatch tool showing markets pricing in an 87% chance of an increase.

“The key was the data did not surprise markets to the upside,” Moomoo market strategy consultant Greg Boland said in a note. “That allowed investors to look through the hotter monthly number and focus on the fact that inflation remains broadly predictable.”

The S&P 500 rose 0.9% on Friday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite both gained 1%. The Dow was led higher by Cisco Systems, International Business Machines and Boeing.

SpaceX advanced 2% on Friday with Bloomberg reporting the space and AI conglomerate would receive a heavier weighting in the Nasdaq 100 index.

Not quite time

Oracle executive chair Larry Ellison cancelled plans to sell 50 million shares after the company’s quarterly earnings beat expectations, with a doubling in sales for its cloud computing business.

Supermarket operator Kroger rallied even after downgrading its expected sales growth, with chief executive Greg Foran telling analysts that consumers were spending less at its stores.

Across the Atlantic, the UK’s FTSE 100 rose 0.4%, while Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 were both up 0.8%.

The Wall Street Journal reported Canadian prime minister Mark Carney was pushing to deepen the country’s relationship with the European Union, including a suggestion of making the North American nation an associate member of the bloc.

Brent crude oil futures fell 3% to US$104.42 a barrel heading into the weekend. Iran was due to meet Gulf diplomats on Monday to discuss a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, although US energy secretary Chris Wright cautioned oil traders against expecting a breakthrough.

Australian futures are pointing to a 0.2% gain for the S&P/ASX 200 index when trading opens across the Tasman, while the kiwi dollar rose to 58.48 US cents at 7am in Auckland from 58.26 cents last week.

Central bank meetings in the US, UK and Japan are the key events for local investors looking for reassurance that monetary authorities’ response to burgeoning inflation will calm rambunctious bond markets.

Local data today include the BusinessNZ-BNZ performance of services index and Stats NZ’s travel and migration figures for July, while broadband network operator Chorus sheds rights to its upcoming dividend today.

And the Labour party joined the political consensus to boost minimum KiwiSaver contributions in its latest policy release over the weekend.

Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Levart_Photographer on Unsplash.