Shares of technology company IBM experienced a sharp decline. On the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, February 23, IBM shares fell by 13.2% — the largest single-day drop since October 2000.
Overall, in February, IBM shares plummeted by 27%, marking the most significant monthly decline since at least 1968, according to Bloomberg.
The sell-off in the stocks followed the announcement by artificial intelligence startup Anthropic that its tool Claude Code could be used to modernize outdated systems written in the Cobol programming language, which has been one of IBM's key areas of focus, CNBC reports.
Anthropic stated that the Claude Code tool can help modernize code written in Cobol, which is primarily used by IBM in banking, insurance, and government systems. Previously, modernizing such systems required entire armies of consultants who studied workflows for years.
"Tools like Claude Code can automate the research and analysis stages that take up most of the effort in modernizing Cobol code," the company Anthropic said. With the help of artificial intelligence, companies can modernize their products in a matter of quarters instead of years.
The Cobol programming language was developed over 60 years ago. According to Anthropic, products written using this language account for about 95% of transactions at ATMs in the United States. Additionally, such programs are used daily in critical systems in the financial sector, airlines, and government institutions.
In recent months, shares of American software development companies have fallen due to market concerns about the growing capabilities of artificial intelligence tools and their negative impact on the business of these companies.
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