(Corrects the oil price percentage change in the sixth paragraph.)

US equity futures were edging lower pre-bell Monday as traders evaluated a call for a slowdown in the advancement of artificial intelligence models and the upcoming Federal Reserve policy decision.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were 0.4% lower, S&P 500 futures were down 0.7%, and Nasdaq futures were 1.6% lower.

In an essay published on Saturday, Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei called for slowing the pace at which companies improved the capabilities of AI models, citing risks of losing control, the misuse of AI for cyberattacks and bioterrorism, and serious economic disruption.

Amodei's proposal was backed by other major AI players, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceX (SPCX) CEO Elon Musk.

The Federal Reserve policy session starts Tuesday and concludes with a rate announcement on Wednesday. There is an 88.5% chance the Fed will raise rates by 0.25%, according to the CME Group FedWatch indicator.

Oil prices were higher, with front-month global benchmark North Sea Brent crude up 4.4% at $109.24 per barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude 4.5% higher at $104.53 per barrel.

The economic calendar is vacant.

In other world markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.8% lower, Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 0.5% higher, and China's Shanghai Composite finished 0.1% lower. Meanwhile, the UK's FTSE 100 was up 0.5%, and Germany's DAX index was 0.6% lower in Europe's early afternoon session.

In equities, stocks of Nvidia (NVDA), Micron Technology (MU), and Intel (INTC) were down as part of a broader downswing in the semiconductor industry after the AI development concerns raised by Amodei. Nvidia shares fell 2.5%, Micron stock was down 6%, and Intel shares dropped 6.9%.

On the winning side, Exxon Mobil (XOM) stock was up 1.5% after a Bloomberg report cited executive Peter Clarke as saying that the company has raised its liquefied natural gas sales forecast even as the Middle East war prompts some countries to reconsider their reliance on the fuel. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) shares rose 1.3% after the company said Sunday a phase 3 trial of its lung cancer drug Rybrevant combined with chemotherapy resulted in a median overall survival of 34.3 months. Chevron (CVX) stock was 1.5% higher after a Reuters report citing President of Global Gas, Freeman Shaheen, as saying that the company is considering expanding its global gas portfolio to the Mediterranean and Argentina to meet growing demand amid the crisis in the Middle East.