Tech stocks are plunging today.

The selloff stems from fears that AI could soon “wipe out” the human race.

Over the past few days, some of the biggest names in tech have weighed in.

Today, let’s revisit how we got here:

Sept. 6: OpenAI’s Chief Scientist Calls for “Extreme Caution”

OpenAI chief scientist Jakub Pachocki published an essay warning about recursive self-improvement.

This is the idea I explained last week:

We build an AI smart enough to help build a better AI → That AI helps build an even better one → The cycle accelerates → AI overtakes humans as the smartest entities on Earth → Humans lose control → AI wipes out humanity.

Pachocki believes there’s a real possibility we’re heading in that direction and stated: “This is a time that calls for extreme caution.”

Sept. 8–9: AI Researchers Sound the Alarm

Then Jacob Coxon quit Anthropic after spending roughly three years working at Anthropic and OpenAI.

He accused the leading AI companies of racing toward “self-improving superintelligence” and “gambling with our lives.”

Anthropic researcher Evan Hubinger backed his concerns and said he personally believes there is a greater than 10% chance AI kills all humans within the next decade.

Sept. 9: OpenAI Talks About Slowing Down

OpenAI then addressed the issue directly.

The company acknowledged that AI could eventually reach the point where it begins rapidly improving itself.

OpenAI said safety should take priority if capabilities begin advancing faster than our ability to control them.

Sept. 12: Anthropic’s CEO Calls for “Pacing”

Then Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei gave the idea a name.

He published an essay titled We Must Pace the Frontier.

Pacing means continuing to develop more powerful AI while giving safety research enough time to keep up.

When capabilities move faster than our ability to understand and control them, developers ease off the accelerator.

Then Sam Altman and Elon Musk Joined the Conversation

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk also expressed support for the broader pacing conversation.

This caught my attention.

These are two of the most influential people in AI who also publicly despise each other.

And now they’re openly agreeing and discussing how quickly AI should advance.

That Brings Us to Today

Stocks are falling today as investors debate what “pacing” could mean for the AI buildout.

Companies are currently spending hundreds of billions of dollars on chips, data centers, power plants, networking equipment, and everything else needed to build increasingly powerful AI.

If OpenAI, Anthropic, and other major developers intentionally slow development, spending will likely slow with it.

That means less revenue for companies like Nvidia and other AI infrastructure stocks → Lower revenue growth means lower earnings estimates → And lower earnings estimates mean lower stock prices.

This is the simple reason AI stocks are getting hammered today.

For now, I’m sticking with AI stocks and I strongly believe this selloff will prove temporary.

The stakes are too high for all parties involved.

OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Meta, Alphabet, and China are all racing for supremacy.

Billions of dollars in revenue, trillions of dollars in market value, and potentially global technological leadership are on the line.

Every company and country knows its competitors are still pushing forward.

This makes a coordinated slowdown incredibly difficult.

I expect these companies to take the extinction warnings seriously.

And I expect safety measures to become a much bigger part of the conversation.

But I also expect the AI buildout to keep moving forward at an incredible pace.

That’s why today’s selloff doesn’t change my long-term outlook on AI stocks.

AI “Extinction” Reader Responses Below!

Last week, I asked you where you stood on the “extinction” predictions surrounding advanced AI.

And wow… you had a lot to say.

My inbox has been flooded with thoughtful responses covering just about every possible viewpoint.

I loved reading through them.

So today, I want to turn The Million Mission over to you for a few minutes.

Here’s what your fellow readers had to say:

• Will it stop my investing in AI? Not this year or next. But… I’ll probably buy a generator, stock up on water, rice & beans, and keep more cash in a safe. Armageddon takes on a whole new meaning after reading your last email. Scary. – Noel

• As with any new technology in the broad scheme of things, it all depends on the moral compass of those developing. – David

• You don't find it strange that Coxon's X account was dormant for a long time before his one sentence admission and how the tweet was quickly responded to from NGOs, followed up by TV interviews and hearings in Congress almost like it was all planned in advance despite many others also leaving over ethics earlier? The cost of onerous regulations would kill open AI but not OAI and Anthropic that want a moat around what they are doing. – Bijoy

• I think AI development should continue or else China will beat us to AI supremacy, invade us with robots and drones and ultimately enslave us or worse. Instead of government controls we need to gather a list of people who work in AI and are like minded in our concern over the dangers of AI. This group of people should include those who are willing to keep us informed as to potential dangers that are in the works and what we can do to stop it or who we should put pressure on to control or stop the danger. – Jeff

• If this extinction happens, there is a 99.9999% chance it will be guided by a human! Also this is sounding like the China bots around data centers! Is China putting up guard rails? Good discussions, but do not let the fear porn and politicians destroy something great! – Thad

• I am 78 years old and would describe myself as a spiritual person-meaning I maintain a God focus. I told my kids and grandkids last night at a family dinner that I am concerned for what they will have to live with for the next forty years because of AI. I learned a long time ago to be careful what you pray for. If your heart goes astray, you can get outcomes you would never want. AI has no heart! – Jim

• You correctly say that AI companies have tremendous incentives to do the right thing regarding recursive self- improvement, but those incentives may be overwhelmed by the competitive pressures to beat rivals - especially if AI competition becomes essentially “winner takes all.” – James

• Based on Scripture, I believe we are approaching the end of our current age, which will result in a 7-year period the Bible calls "Daniel's 70th Week", which most of us refer to as the Tribulation Period. It will be a time when the globalists will think they have succeeded. There will be a one-world government, religion, and economy. There will be one man who rises from the masses to be the supreme leader and will bring about total control of everyone (referenced in Revelation chapter 13). The relevant thing about AI and these Biblical events is that this leader will need AI to be able to control the world. So, the timing of AI's existence and the emphasis and speed of its growth and maturation process is fitting right into the scenario of Scripture, in my opinion. – Greg

• I am not sad or afraid. I just know God is more true today than He was yesterday. God bless you and thank you for this message. – Crystal

• We need to keep aggressively developing AI as we're doing. We cannot let China beat us on anything AI; even though they are copying all our discoveries. China will figure out how to rule the world if we let them. – Ismuth

• I am not smart enough to know whether recursive self-improvement AI can destroy human life. But I do know whatever you build you must have an off ramp. – Russ

• Grandpa was skeptical about the tractor replacing the horse. When TV became a household item, people knew it would replace the church. And many would argue it has. We need to embrace AI change and work for its benefit for society. And place the guard rails as you call them. I for one would say there has to be a “ main power plug “ to disengage any run away AI model. – David

• I believe that the development of AI and recursive self-improvement or programming or Super improvement intelligence MUST be somehow secured by a secure rule that can be stopped by humans in case necessary, to prevent imminent risk to the human race extinction. Besides life basic extreme resources like WATER must be preserved for Human Only management and that way avoiding the possibility of poisoning that resource by AI to kill humans for example. Also electricity generation must be ultimately ruled by humans and that way avoiding AI to shut down this in its purpose to eliminate humans More strategic resources and utilities must be ultimately managed by humans only, but Water and Electricity must by all means ensure to be handled by humans. – Marco

• If the human population is being threatened by AI, I would think we could take down AI with some strategically placed EMP detonators over AI data centers and then start all over again. – Gary

• My biggest worry is China's approach to AI. I don't think they care about the risks, and they will continue to push boundaries as fast as they can. We have to keep up, but we also need to be incredibly smart about defense. The real challenge isn't just defending the US internally—it's inventing measures to stop an uncontrolled AI outbreak from happening in China in the first place. If we can figure out how to prevent a runaway AI catastrophe there, we solve the ultimate safety problem for both sides. – Jeff

• Here we go again. Another Democrat doomsday pyshop. Look at the source: an entry level employee that worked at the company for two months, worked in the UK for the Socialist Democrats, his Twitter page had less than 1,000 followers. Yet, within 24 hours of his post, 10 Democrat Congress members had reposted it and there was a NY Times article. Total Pyshop. – J G

• Super intelligent AI will be to us (humans) what we are to dogs. A dog can see us leave the house but he has no idea what we are doing outside or why we are doing it. Humans will be the dogs to Superintelligence. By definition we can not predict what a Superintelligence will do, because if it were something we could predict, we would be operating at the same level of intelligence, violating the assumption that it is smarter than us. – Georges

• Yes, I am very concerned about the rapid progress on AI and the need to develop safeguards. This sounds like science fiction when the robots take over but I think it could happen. – Marilyn

• Seems most probable that this dangerous aspect of ai development will continue at its breakneck speed. Don’t see how the parties responsible will truly properly police this issue. I for one am holding my investments at this point (primarily directed by Paradigm), but I’m reticent to invest more without first seeing some real evidence of this potentially catastrophic event being checked and controlled. Btw love your “Mission”! – Tom

• What good are Chat-GPT or Anthropic’s efforts if everyone else in the world are distilling our program knowledge to create their own artificial super intelligence -without those safeguards? It seems to me that either artificial intelligence research must be kept isolated from any contact with the outside/wider world or the research must be discontinued. – Lance

• My take on the "warning" is a bit different - I'm sensing something more akin to an orchestrated PR stunt to energize public opinion toward regulation. Since we all know that the regulators and their advisors know nothing about everything, they will likely turn to the big AI companies for recommendations, and those companies will sculpt recommendations that favor their business models. – David

• We can have the best of intentions, slow down the Western world AI development but China and Russia won’t stop regardless of what we do. – Charles

• It doesn't change how I feel about investing, but it scares the hell out of me. – Jacqueline

• It's time for action! I leave that to you younger people. The government doesn't care! I'd like to see demonstrations in the streets and outside government buildings. I don't expect to see that. People just don't understand and believe. I sympathize with the guys who have resigned due to their concerns. I can imagine the nights they spent visualizing the overwhelming implications of AI takeover. Maybe all their associates can quit too. Naw! not while they are making big bucks. – The 95 Year Old Investor

As always, thanks for your emails.

Keep them coming.