AI advancements threaten jobs in software and data industries

Stocks plunged as fears escalated that AI advancements will take a bite out of business for many software, data, and professional services companies. The market losses are tied to updates to Anthropic's AI-powered workplace productivity suite, Claude Cowork, which threatens to replace some software tools ubiquitous in the professional world. Shares in companies involved in research and legal software, such as Thomson Reuters and LegalZoom, dropped dramatically, with a wide swath of software stocks following suit. The S&P North American Software Index also slid further this week, worsening a recent losing streak punctuated by a 15% decline in January—the index’s worst month in nearly two decades.