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Snapshot 5:Tue, Feb 24, 2026 5:16:37 PM GMT last edited by Vandita

IBM Plunges 13% as Anthropic AI Tool Threatens COBOL Business

IBM Plunges 13% as Anthropic AI Tool Threatens COBOL Business

IBM Plunges 13% as Anthropic AI Tool Threatens COBOL Business
Image credit: Dominika Zarzycka/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

The Spin

Generic AI models fail spectacularly at COBOL because they can't handle theits unique structure, decades of embedded business logic, and the zero-tolerance error requirements that real migrations demand. Off-the-shelf tools like Opus 4.6 simply won't cut it for this specialized work. The market's panic over a single blog post completely ignores the actual technical reality that domain-specific training is absolutely essential for competent COBOL engineering.

Moving massive volumes of sensitive mainframe data to the cloud for AI processing createsintroduces unacceptable latency and security risks, thatmaking make the whole approach impractical. Data gravity and the need for real-time transaction processing mean AI must come to the mainframe, not the other way around. The platform has evolved into an AI-optimized hub with integrated accelerators that can run complex neural networks alongside mission-critical workloads.

Metaculus Prediction

There's a 50% chance that Anthropic will reach or surpass ASL-4 before April 14, 2029, according to the Metaculus prediction community.


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© 2026 Improve the News Foundation.

All rights reserved.

Version 6.18.0