Burry Blasts AI Slowdown Hype as IPO Gamble

Michael Burry, a well-known investor and author of The Big Short, has spoken out against what he believes is self-serving hype surrounding the AI slowdown. According to Burry, the push for caution is driven by executives at OpenAI and Anthropic who stand to gain from telling investors that their technology is moving too fast.

In a series of tweets, Burry argued that large language models (LLMs) are not true artificial intelligence (AI) and will never reach artificial general intelligence (AGI). He also pointed out that rivals are closing in quickly, which would benefit whoever leads today. Furthermore, he suggested that the safety warnings being issued by executives are actually promotional material for upcoming stock listings.

Burry's fourth point was that the AI slowdown talk is likely a cover for growth that is already fading, just as the companies' stock listings approach.

Amodei's essay, published on Saturday, called for labs to slow down capability gains and host independent evaluators. Sam Altman and Elon Musk backed the plan within hours. However, Burry sees this as an attempt by executives to manipulate the market ahead of their own IPOs. He points out that neither OpenAI nor Anthropic has yet turned a profit, with Anthropic not expecting to break even until 2028.

Burry's comments come as the AI slowdown story continues to unfold. Analyst Ben Cowen has warned that a giant Anthropic float could drain attention from Bitcoin, while Burry himself has expanded his Nvidia short and bought December calls as a hedge.