“The Claude Effect”: how Anthropic’s AI triggered a sell-off in British tech giants

# "The Claude Effect": How AI from Anthropic Sparked a Crash in British Tech Giants

When the FTSE 100 index confidently moves toward historical highs, it's easy to miss the quiet catastrophe unfolding in one corner of the British stock market. The event has been dubbed the "Claude crash" — named after the neural network assistant from Anthropic, which recently integrated specialized legal tools. At first glance, it's a routine update to an AI product, but for investors it became a symbol of an existential crisis: the moment when artificial intelligence begins to erode the profits of some of Britain's most successful companies. At the center of the panic were corporations that have long dominated the market for data and information services — Relx, London Stock Exchange Group, Experian, Sage, and Informa.

To understand the scale of what is happening, it's worth recalling that these companies built their business on a simple but powerful idea: they control access to specialized data and analytics that lawyers, financiers, and analysts are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars a year for. Relx, for example, owns LexisNexis — a platform that is indispensable to any serious lawyer in the English-speaking world. This position generated enviable margins of 40-50 percent.

But then Claude was given tools that can analyze legal precedents, prepare legal memorandums, and draft lawsuits. For free. Or almost for free.

The market was justifiably frightened: if artificial intelligence can replicate this functionality for other sectors, then an entire industry of information services would be under threat.

The investors' reaction was swift and merciless. Relx shares fell, as did those of its competitors. Analysts began recalculating financial models, striking several points off margin forecasts. It seemed that the era of easy profits for companies sitting on a goldmine of specialized information had ended. However, Relx management acted interestingly: instead of panic and defensive rhetoric, the company continued its share buyback program. This decision demonstrates the confidence of top management in the long-term sustainability of the business, despite short-term market turbulence.

In fact, the situation is more nuanced than it appears. Yes, Claude and other LLMs are capable of performing basic analytical tasks, but much of the value that Relx clients pay for comes not from raw data, but from the structure of that data, its verification, the speed of updates, and the expertise embedded in the platform. The idea of replacing a human lawyer with ChatGPT or Claude for critical work is not something that serious clients would entertain. But some of the work that junior specialists used to perform could indeed disappear or be significantly simplified.

Nevertheless, the "Claude crash" reflects a real tension between the traditional data economy and the rapidly evolving world of large language models. Companies like Relx cannot simply ignore this threat and hope for stability in old business models. They must adapt: either through integration of their own LLMs into their platforms, or through a deep reassessment of where exactly the unique value of their services lies. Relx's decision to continue buying back its own shares is not just a financial maneuver, but a demonstration of faith that adaptation is possible. The future will show how well-founded this confidence is.