IBM stock drops 13% after Anthropic unveils COBOL AI tool

IBM shares fell 13% on Monday after Anthropic unveiled a new AI tool aimed at helping companies modernize COBOL systems used by many businesses. Anthropic highlighted the prevalence of the language, writing, "COBOL is everywhere. It handles an estimated 95% of ATM transactions in the US." "Hundreds of billions of lines of COBOL run in production every day, powering critical systems in finance, airlines, and government.

Despite that, the number of people who understand it shrinks every year." The company said the update could "Identify risks that would take human analysts months to surface," and that Claude will allow companies to streamline their COBOL operations for a fraction of their previous cost, similar to the legal plugins the company rolled out early in the month that triggered the initial software sell-off.

The new AI use case poses a potential threat to the kind of business data service that comprises a core part of IBM's business.

United States

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