On Saturday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a 3,800-word essay titled “We Must Pace the Frontier,” warning that AI agents could overwhelm large parts of the internet within six to 12 months if frontier-model development continues without stronger safeguards.
As rare as it might be for Silicon Valley competitors to agree, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Elon Musk and Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis all endorsed Amodei’s concern. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman even went so far as to post on X:
There are two ways AI progress could go very badly, and that we must avoid. First, we could lose control of the future to AI. This is unacceptable; we are unapologetically on Team Humanity, and AI must always serve people. To ensure that, we need ways to ensure that alignment and safety techniques stay ahead of progress in model capabilities.
The second is “too much power could become concentrated in the hands of a single person or company.”
In plain English: the first danger is AI takes over. The second danger is people with AI take over.
Strategists for the Democrats trying to seize control of Congress in the midterms swarmed the Amodei and Altman statements suggesting AI regulation should be a rallying point for individual candidates. Oy. Al Gore must be lamenting that he “invented” the internet in the first place.
In the stock market, AI-linked stocks sold off. Marvell traded down more than 7%, Intel fell more than 6%, and Micron was off about 5% in early trading.
The sell-off was contained because the AI buildout is already grappling with physical limitations: data centers, chips, power contracts, cooling systems, the power grid, backup generation and endless building permits.
For today’s trade, we have taken note that a slower frontier-AI curve does not stop AI adoption. Companies using existing AI tools to cut costs, improve productivity and get more work out of existing systems are the next likely tier to benefit.
For Grey Swan Pro, that opens the door to a less obvious trade: Pfizer.
Pfizer is an unusual name for us. A review of our last month of trades reveals a focus on the “debasement” trade and rising demand for resources… and their ripple effects in currencies, bonds, and other market pressure points.
Pfizer is an old-line pharmaceutical company that spent the past few years disappointing investors. It is not a uranium miner, gold stock, oil refiner or currency squeeze. That is part of what makes the setup worth noticing:
Pfizer is now showing what technical traders call a “golden cross,” with the 50-day moving average moving above the 200-day moving average. Traders watch that pattern because it suggests shorter-term strength is challenging the longer-term decline.
A golden cross guarantees nothing, but it does show Pfizer is no longer simulating a dead cat.
The AI angle is practical. Pfizer does not need to invent artificial general intelligence to benefit from it. It is actively using existing tools to screen drug compounds more quickly, improve trial design, analyze medical data, reduce paperwork and make back-office functions less expensive.
The first phase of the AI boom has rewarded the builders: chipmakers, hyperscalers, cloud platforms and data-center landlords. We’re expecting the next phase to reward selected users, especially companies that can apply AI to real costs, real workflows and real bottlenecks.
Pfizer is not a pure AI stock. Good.
It gives us an early look at productivity gains at a moment when investors are questioning the most crowded AI names. And now a political headwind. Healthcare has a use case. Pfizer has an improving technical setup. Andrew’s pick in today’s Grey Swan Pro shows an easy way to benefit from AI use cases in health care, not just from one name like Pfizer.
~ Addison
P.S. Last week, we brought Zoltan Istvan back on Grey Swan Live! for another riveting examination of the “most dangerous technology humans have ever created.”
“We should have titled this one ‘How AI Is Going To Kill Us All In the Next Decade’,” Andrew joked immediately after we finished recording:
Zoltan has spent the past few months in the Grey Swan Monthly Bulletin outlining the conferences he’s speaking at and what he’s seeing in the world of AI and robotics.
The good news? This technology is transformative, and the world as we know it is shifting rapidly. The conversation wasn’t nearly as dour as Andrew’s remark. The “intelligence revolution” is driving meaningful changes in how we invest and work, helping us stay ahead of the curve.
If you didn’t join us, it’s worth taking a listen to the replay. We fielded a number of member questions. And Andrew suggested a solid investment strategy as killer AI apps dominate the news cycle leading up to midterms.
Ed note: This Wednesday, Zoltan will be moderating several panels during a symposium being held on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. for members of Congress concerned about the rapid development of AI technology and changes to the body politic.
