European publishing and legal software companies suffered a sharp decline in their share prices after US artificial intelligence firm Anthropic revealed a tool for use by the companies’ legal departments.
Anthropic, the company behind it Chatbot Claudeclaims its tool can automate legal work such as contract reviewing, non-disclosure agreement triage, compliance workflows, legal briefings and template responses.
Shares in a UK publishing group Pearson It fell 4% on the news and shares in information and analytics company Relx fell 14%. Software company Sage lost 5.5% in London and Dutch software company Wolters Kluwer lost 10.5% in Amsterdam.
Shares in London Stock Exchange The group fell 8.5%, its biggest fall in nearly five years, and credit reporting company Experian fell 8.9% in London amid fears over the impact of AI on data companies.
Europe’s index of media stocks fell 5% for its biggest daily fall since March 2020. Shares of Nasdaq-listed Thomson Reuters fell 14.2%.
The FTSE 100 hit a record high on Tuesday morning, but selling dragged the blue chip index into the red.
Anthropic said the plugin does not provide legal advice. “AI-generated analysis should be reviewed by licensed attorneys before being relied upon for legal decisions,” the startup said.
The company also announced several other open-source tools to automate a wide range of professional activities, including sales and customer support.
Anthropic was founded in 2021 by its chief executive Dario Amodei and other former staff from OpenAI, which developed ChatGPIT.
“Anthropic has launched new capabilities for its peer-to-peer legal space, increasing competition in the space,” Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note to Thomson Reuters. “We see this as a sign of intensifying competition and thus a potential downside.”
The share price slump was another serious blow to Nick Train, one of the UK’s most high-profile fund managers whose firm Lindsell Train has run Finsbury Growth & Income Trust since 2000. The trust’s four largest holdings are Sage, Experiencedthe London Stock Exchange and Relex and its shares fell more than 5% on Tuesday.
Rail has again apologized for the investment trust’s “appalling” performance at its annual meeting last month after a vote on its future. The FTSE 250-listed company was the UK equity income trust’s worst performer over one year and five years.
The news reignites fears of job losses caused by the AI boom. Clifford Chance, one of the largest international law firms, said in November Reducing the number of business services staff At that London On a 10% basis, increased use of AI was the factor behind the decision.
In addition to factory jobs being automated, office-based jobs are vulnerable to advances in AI — computer systems that perform cognitive tasks typically associated with human intelligence.
The The UK is losing more jobs than it is creating According to a Morgan Stanley study, as companies adopt more AI tools and are being hit harder than rival big economies.
A quarter (27%) of workers in the UK They expressed concern that their jobs will disappear in the next five years as a result of AIaccording to a recent survey of thousands of employees. It found that British businesses reported an average increase of 11.5% in productivity with the help of AI. US businesses reported similar gains, but created more jobs than they cut.
In his annual Mansion House speech last month, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said AI can destroy jobs In the capital. He said London was “on the sharp edge of change” due to its reliance on white-collar workers in finance and creative industries, and professional services such as law, accounting, consulting and marketing.
Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, warned that “some jobs will be lost” as she announced the plans. Training 10 million British workersincluding cabinet members, in basic AI skills by 2030.
Lindsell Train and Nick Train have been contacted for comment.
