Anthropic, OpenAI, and xAI Want to Slow Down Artificial Intelligence (AI) Development. These 2 Stocks Could Be the Biggest Losers.

Over the weekend, Anthropic founder and chief executive Dario Amodei wrote a blog post calling for a slowdown in the pace of artificial intelligence (AI) development. He said concepts like recursive self-improvement, where AI models learn to train themselves, could outrun our ability to understand and control them. He also expressed concern over recent cybersecurity events, like when a swarm of OpenAI agents attacked another company called Hugging Face without being asked.

In a rare show of unity, OpenAI's Sam Altman and xAI's Elon Musk both shared posts on social media agreeing with Amodei's conclusions. If all three of the world's top AI companies simultaneously take steps to curb the rate of development for the good of humanity, many of the industry's service providers might suddenly find themselves with lower sales.

Personally, I think chipmakers and cybersecurity vendors are most at risk, and I'll share one stock from each category that could lose out.

Image source: Getty Images.

The first potential loser: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) designs graphics processing units (GPUs) for data centers, which are the primary chips used in AI training and inference workloads. The company has trailed its fiercest rival, Nvidia, over the last few years, but it just started shipping its most powerful GPUs ever, which could close any remaining performance deficit.

Dubbed the MI450 series, AMD's new GPUs are available as part of a fully integrated data center rack called Helios, which includes specialized hardware and software to extract their maximum processing speeds. In fact, AMD says the Helios system could be 15% more powerful and 30% more cost-efficient than anything else on the market, making it a legitimate alternative to Nvidia's new Vera Rubin system.

According to AMD, OpenAI and Anthropic are expected to be two of the earliest adopters of the MI450 GPUs and Helios, but their sudden plan to slow the pace of development could reduce their need for additional chips. That's concerning because the data center business now accounts for more than half of AMD's total revenue, so any slowdown in GPU sales could derail the entire company's growth trajectory.

This situation could have dire consequences for investors because AMD stock is relatively expensive, opening the door to a steep correction. Based on the company's trailing-12-month adjusted (non-GAAP) earnings of $5.76 per share, its stock is trading at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 89.5 -- triple the P/E ratio of Nvidia.

I don't own AMD stock at the moment, but if I did, I would probably trim my position in light of the events over the weekend.

The second potential loser: CrowdStrike

CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) is one of the world's largest cybersecurity companies. Its stock has rocketed higher by 85% over the past year, as investors bet the proliferation of AI will fuel a surge in demand for advanced protection. However, the stock might have to give up some of those gains if AI development slows, particularly because of its sky-high valuation (more on that in a moment).

The cybersecurity industry has a history of fragmentation. Enterprises used to buy products from multiple vendors to achieve an adequate level of protection, but these products rarely worked well together, which left gaping holes in their defenses. CrowdStrike's Falcon platform is one of the industry's only all-in-one solutions, and this unified approach to security is one of the secrets to thwarting the most advanced AI-powered threats.

Enterprises can choose from 33 different Falcon modules (products) to build their ideal cybersecurity solution, and with the Flex subscription, they can set a fixed annual budget and change modules as their needs evolve.

While malicious actors are using AI to launch sophisticated cyberattacks, many enterprises are also putting their sensitive data at risk by deploying AI agents, chatbots, and other software applications. CrowdStrike is addressing this with new Falcon modules, such as AI Detection and Response (AIDR), that can uncover unauthorized agents or chatbots operating within a corporate network. It also tracks every chatbot input and output to detect hackers using new techniques such as prompt injection to orchestrate a breach.

The annual recurring revenue attributed to AIDR almost tripled during CrowdStrike's recent fiscal 2027 second quarter (ended July 31), so it's one of the fastest-growing products in the company's history. As such products become more important to CrowdStrike's overall long-term growth, a slowdown in AI development could be a significant headwind.

CrowdStrike stock is trading at a sky-high price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 39.4, a huge premium to the Nasdaq-100 index, which has a P/S ratio of 6.2. In other words, the cybersecurity giant is heavily overvalued compared to a basket of America's biggest tech names. That leaves a lot of room for downside if investors decide the AI boom won't be as meaningful as originally thought.

Anthony Di Pizio has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, CrowdStrike, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.