Key facts
- Michael Burry believes calls for an AI slowdown by company executives are "self-serving."
- Burry argues that large language models are not artificial general intelligence (AGI) and therefore there is "nothing" to slow down.
- He stated that a slowdown benefits incumbents and hinders smaller competitors.
- Burry suggested that framing AI as an extinction-level threat fuels hype for public offerings.
- He believes an intentional slowdown provides "cover for real uncontrollable slowing growth."
- Burry asserted that large language models lack "true capacity for reason," meaning there is "nothing to fear" for now.
Investor Michael Burry has criticized the leaders of major artificial intelligence companies for advocating a slowdown in AI development, labeling their calls as "self-serving." In a post on X, Burry argued that large language models (LLMs) are not true artificial general intelligence (AGI) and thus there is "nothing" to curb. He suggested that such calls benefit established companies by hindering smaller rivals and that the narrative of AI as an extinction-level threat fuels "hype & puffery" for public offerings.
Burry's comments come after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay urging industry peers to "slow the pace" of AI advances to allow risk prevention measures to catch up. OpenAI's Sam Altman, xAI's Elon Musk, and Alphabet's Demis Hassabis publicly supported Amodei's stance. This call for caution follows warnings from former researchers at OpenAI and Anthropic, including Jacob Coxon, who stated that these labs are "racing straight to self-improving superintelligence," and Evan Hubinger, who estimated a greater than 10% chance of AI leading to human extinction within the next decade.
Despite these warnings, there is significant pressure from Wall Street and Washington for AI companies to continue rapid development. The prospect of slower growth led to a sell-off in AI stocks on Monday, with Nvidia declining 3% in premarket trading and other chipmakers like Intel, Micron, and SK Hynix falling more than 5%. President Trump, meanwhile, dismissed the apocalyptic AI chatter as the work of "very negative forces," emphasizing the importance of the US winning the AI race against China.
Burry, who has been critical of AI companies and their investments, has previously raised concerns about overinvestment in AI infrastructure, aggressive accounting practices, hidden debt, and circular transactions within the sector.