AI sell-off: 3 sectors it has hit the hardest and why

The meteoric rise of artificial intelligence, which once propelled markets to record highs, has hit a wall of skepticism.

In early February 2026, a sharp sell-off rippled through global exchanges as the narrative shifted from “AI as a savior” to “AI as a disruptor.”

This volatility was primarily triggered by two factors: a massive spike in capital expenditure from tech giants that has yet to show proportional returns, and the release of highly specialized AI agents capable of automating complex professional tasks.

Investors are no longer just asking who will build the AI, but rather who will be “cannibalized” by it.

Here are the three sectors most at risk.

Enterprise software

For years, the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model was the gold standard of steady, recurring revenue.

However, the emergence of autonomous AI agents – like the newly updated Claude Cowork – has sparked what Wall Street is calling the “SaaSpocalypse.”

Investors fear that instead of paying for expensive “per-seat licenses” for CRM or HR tools, firms may simply start using AI to build custom in-house solutions or automate the workflows entirely.

Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) – a longtime industry bellwether – has felt the brunt of this anxiety.

Its stock price plummeted over 15% in a single week following reports that large enterprises were pausing seat-count expansions, opting instead to trial Anthropic’s “AI-powered” automation tools that reduce the need for human software operators.

Commercial real estate services

The real estate sector, particularly firms focused on commercial leasing and property management, has entered a period of deep uncertainty.

The concern is two-fold: AI automation could lead to material white-collar layoffs – reducing the overall demand for office space – and AI tools are beginning to automate “information asymmetry” that real estate brokers rely on for fees.

CBRE Group (NYSE: CBRE) – the world’s largest commercial real estate services firm – saw its shares sank 12% as markets realized that AI can now handle complex lease valuations and market analysis with 99% accuracy.

As investors rotate out of labour-intensive business models, the “high-fee” structures of traditional real estate giants are being viewed as increasingly vulnerable.

Professional information and data services

Sectors that trade on specialized knowledge – legal, accounting, and tax services – are the latest to be swept up in the AI fear trade.

For years, companies like Thomson Reuters and RELX were considered “AI winners” because they owned the data used to train the models.

However, a new wave of vibe coding and specialized legal artificial intelligence agents has shown that the moat provided by proprietary databases may be shrinking.

Thomson Reuters (NASDAQ: TRI) fell over 26% recently as analysts questioned whether AI could now synthesize case law and draft legal filings at a fraction of the cost of the company’s premium subscription services.

The market is currently betting that “democratization of expertise” will hit the bottom line of these data giants far sooner than expected.

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