One move by Anthropic wipes out ₹26 trillion, shocks software and legal sectors
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): A new breakthrough in the world of artificial intelligence (AI) has shaken the stock market. Anthropic, the company behind the Cloud chatbot, recently launched AI plugins that instantly wiped $285 billion (approximately ₹26,129 billion) from the global market. This new "agentic AI" has had the most profound impact on the stocks of companies in software, legal tech, and financial services, where significant declines have been recorded.
According to media reports, the company introduced 11 new open source plugins on January 30th, specifically designed to work with its "Claude Cowork" tools. One of these tools, specifically designed to automate legal workflows, has become the primary cause of the market uproar. Anthropic's Cloud Cowork, an "agentive AI assistant," was launched in early January.
While AI tools have previously been primarily used for coding, these new tools from Anthropic can also handle non-coding tasks with ease. These plugins are capable of reading files, organizing folders, drafting documents, and completing multi-step tasks. Their biggest advantage is that companies can customize them to suit their needs. This means that how to perform a task and what to automate has become extremely simple. This is having a direct impact on the companies that previously sold these services.
The real reason behind this market turmoil is Anthropic's changing strategy. Analysts believe that the company hasn't just launched a set of tools, but has invented a new way of working. Anthropic no longer wants to limit itself to selling AI models or APIs; instead, it is directly controlling workflows. Simply put, if the company had simply provided APIs, companies like Thomson Reuters could have built their services on them, but Anthropic has started selling 'ready-made solutions'. This means that it is no longer a service provider, but a direct competitor to these giant companies, which has created an atmosphere of fear among investors.