Evening Scan

The "slow down AI" letter that dropped over the weekend kept spreading all day — markets took it seriously even if the White House didn't. Larry Ellison reversed course on a multibillion-dollar stock sale, and oil is back in the headlines for reasons nobody wanted.

Tech Stocks Tumble After AI Leaders Call for Industry to Slow Down (paywall)

Dario Amodei's weekend essay asking labs to "pace the frontier" spooked traders across Asia, Europe, and the US more than it spooked the labs themselves. (NYT)

Trump and Mike Johnson Think the AI Industry Is Overreacting

Washington's response to a chorus of AI executives asking for guardrails was a shrug. (The Verge)

Larry Ellison Cancels $7.5 Billion Sale of Oracle Stock

Oracle's chairman was set to offload 50 million shares — now he's not, and the timing (right as AI stocks wobble) is significant. (TechCrunch)

Oil Prices Jump as Attacks Choke Off Saudi Energy Supply (paywall)

A drone strike on Gulf energy infrastructure sent futures higher — the kind of story that makes the AI slowdown debate look smaller by comparison. (NYT)

"A negative force." — Trump, on people asking to slow AI down