Recent stark warnings about artificial intelligence risks from the leaders of two major AI companies could pose a significant threat to CoreWeave's business model if industry development faces new constraints. The cautionary statements from Anthropic and OpenAI CEOs have raised concerns about the sustainability of explosive growth in AI infrastructure spending.
Bernstein analyst Madison Rezaei highlighted in a Monday research note that CoreWeave carries the highest risk exposure among companies under coverage. According to the analyst's estimates, 25% of the company's current electricity usage in the United States, along with approximately 74% of its contracted power, is located in tertiary and quaternary markets. While the company's backlog consists primarily of take-or-pay contracts that are expected to remain secure, demand for already-signed but unsold computing capacity in remote areas could weaken if AI model training research and development slows down.
The stock fell nearly 7% in premarket trading following the latest cautionary remarks from the two executives, making it one of the larger decliners among AI-related stocks. Within just two days, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, two giants in the AI industry, issued warnings about the powerful technology they have championed and accelerated through top research teams, sending ripples through the technology sector.
Amodei wrote in a personal blog post on Saturday that he has become increasingly convinced over the past few months that addressing various risks requires a higher degree of prudence. He emphasized that beyond investing in risk prevention, there is a need to manage the pace of AI capability iteration to allow time for risk mitigation efforts to catch up. The Anthropic chief called for slowing down the rate of capability improvement in AI models, noting that overall technological progress would continue at a relatively fast pace and that the time gained should be used wisely.
Shortly after the blog post was published, Altman expressed agreement with his competitor's viewpoint. Early Monday morning, he posted a pessimistic message on the X platform. At 12:57 AM Eastern Time, Altman wrote that there are two catastrophic directions in AI development that must be avoided. The first involves humanity potentially losing control over its future to artificial intelligence, which he deemed unacceptable. He stated firmly that his company stands on the side of humanity and that AI must always serve people, which requires ensuring that alignment technology and safety technology develop at a pace that outruns model capability iteration.
Altman continued by describing the second risk as the emergence of extreme concentration of power in the world. He warned that if a single individual or company possesses highly capable AI and imposes its worldview on everyone, the result would be an extremely dystopian outcome. Navigating away from both threats requires walking a narrow middle path, including avoiding scenarios where a single country gains excessive power or a single laboratory holds too much influence.
If AI research and development momentum slows, CoreWeave's controversial balance sheet and overall business model would be exposed to risk. The company has pursued aggressive expansion through substantial debt financing, based on the assumption that computing demand will continue to surge for years to come. According to the latest financial report, CoreWeave's long-term debt stands at approximately $27 billion, with cash reserves of $6.3 billion.
Prior to these pessimistic signals from the AI industry, CoreWeave had regained favor on Wall Street, which had previously harbored concerns about the company's highly leveraged financial position. CoreWeave reported second-quarter sales surging 112% year over year, while adjusted operating profit more than doubled to reach $1.5 billion. Driven by explosive enterprise demand for GPU computing power and a cumulative backlog of confirmed revenue orders totaling $104 billion, management raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to a range of $12.4 billion to $13.2 billion.
Before this latest selling pressure emerged, the stock had risen approximately 25%. CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator stated at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Technology Conference that the company is struggling daily to keep up with overwhelming market demand, with multiple customers competing for every available GPU. He described the current environment as a special era that shows no signs of ending soon.