(Feb 24) : The artificial intelligence “scare trade” erupted again on Monday as growing concerns about the disruptive power of AI dragged down shares of delivery, payments and software companies, and sent International Business Machines Corp. to its worst plunge in 25 years. It began after a bearish report was published over the weekend by a little known firm called Citrini Research. Then AI startup Anthropic said in a blog post Monday that Claude Code tool can help with modernizing COBOL, a dated programming language that’s mainly run on IBM computers. And finally came a warning from Nassim Taleb: investors should brace for escalating volatility and even bankruptcies in the software sector as the AI rally enters a fragile phase. Dire OutlookCitrini’s report described a potential scenario where AI agents seek to save users’ money by eliminating transaction fees charged by payment processing firms like Mastercard and Visa.

Source: The Edge Markets February 23, 2026 22:35 UTC