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\t\t\tIllustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins \/ Futurism. Source: Getty Images\n\t<\/p>\n
At $183 billion AI firm<\/a> Anthropic, the stakes have always been high. Now with the stock market in a nosedive<\/a>, however, some of the company\u2019s employees are realizing they may have had a hand in tipping the first in a long series of dominoes.<\/p>\n Last week, Anthropic \u2014 one of the leading AI companies on the market \u2014 released a new tool called \u201cplugins.\u201d It was described as an assistant that can support people working in legal, marketing, finance, data analysis, or customer service roles.<\/p>\n When it hit the market, law firms and other entities with legal exposure immediately went into shock, taking the \u201cLegal\u201d plugin as an existential threat, despite Anthropic\u2019s insistence that \u201call outputs should be reviewed by licensed attorneys.\u201d Investors immediately felt the pressure from increasing competition, and soon the broader stock market<\/a> was in a massive sell off.<\/p>\n While AI agents \u2014 semi-autonomous AI systems like Anthropic\u2019s Legal plugin \u2014 have yet to prove themselves in the real world<\/a>, plenty of the company\u2019s staffers are worried they\u2019ve already crossed the Rubicon. <\/p>\n \u201cIt kind of feels like I\u2019m coming to work every day to put myself out of a job,\u201d one staffer told The Telegraph<\/a>.<\/p>\n Another lamented that \u201cin the long term, I think AI will end up doing everything and make me and many others irrelevant.\u201d<\/p>\n An Anthropic spokesperson declined to comment to the Telegraph on the sell-off. <\/p>\n While it remains to be seen what real-world effects the company\u2019s tools will have on the actual economy, Anthropic\u2019s push into AI agents represents a strategic embrace of a type of AI that was once relegated<\/a> to startup engineers and vibe coders of Silicon Valley. It\u2019s a hell of an entrance into the mainstream spotlight, and one which is already having a major impact on the markets.<\/p>\n