NEW YORK – Logistics stocks plunged on Feb 12 as the group became the latest victim of the “AI scare trade”. At the centre of the sell-off: a former karaoke company with a stock-market value of only US$6 million (S$7.6 million).

The little-known company is worth just a fraction of the value it knocked off of a constellation of others – all of which were dumped by investors fearful of even the faintest threat posed by artificial intelligence (AI). The company’s trumpeting of its logistics platform sent the Russell 3000 Trucking Index sliding 6.6 per cent. CH Robinson Worldwide tumbled 15 per cent – and at one point was down by a record 24 per cent – while Landstar System plunged 16 per cent.