Michael Burry says a stock market crash that prevents two of the biggest AI companies from going public would be good for humanity.
“For the sake of humanity, markets should collapse and prevent OpenAI and Anthropic IPOs,” the “Big Short” investor wrote on X on Tuesday.
In follow-up responses, Burry offered more details about his post. He said companies would “suck up” and then destroy “BILLIONS of dollars of capital,” adding that would be “the least of the damage they’re doing.”
Burry also responded “along the same lines” to a user who joked: “tank the market so Skynet can’t go public” — a reference to the destructive artificial intelligence system in the “Terminator” movies.
Whatever larger damage Burry had in mind, the financial stakes around both companies are already enormous.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said earlier this month that an IPO in 2026 would be “ill-advised” amid AI safety concerns. Anthropic, meanwhile, is expected to go public after the November midterm elections, according to a prospectus seen by Reuters.
OpenAI and Anthropic did not respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment.
Both require significant capital to develop advanced models and build the IT infrastructure that supports them. Going public could give them access to larger pools of capital by opening them up to a wider range of investors.
Burry said in a Substack article this week that he is “more confident than ever” that his bearish AI thesis will come to fruition over the next year, advancing his previous 2028 base case.
The investor said his conviction led him to review his bets on a slew of targets, including Nvidia, Palantir, Micron, Oracle and the Nasdaq 100.
Burry argued that debt-fueled spending on chips and data centers is unsustainable and vulnerable to higher interest rates. If spending slows, he writes, “everything falls apart.”
However, AI stocks have largely shrugged off concerns as they advance to record highs this year.
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