Having Batman by your side is rarely painful. Michael Burry may be thinking what’s next after Ben Affleck revealed he’s also skeptical of the AI boom.
The Hollywood star echoed investors’ skepticism about AI and big tech’s grand claims about big investments in emerging technologies on the latest episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
“I think a lot of that rhetoric comes from people trying to justify the valuation of companies: ‘In two years we’re going to change everything, there’s going to be no more jobs,'” Affleck said.
“Well, they’re saying that because they need to do an investment valuation that justifies the capital investment that goes into these data centers,” he added.
The “Justice League” and “Gone Girl” actor said that historically adoption of new technology has been “slow” and gradual.
He said tech companies try to justify huge spending by promising new AI models that blow away existing ones, but in reality, each subsequent model is only moderately improved and requires far more power and data to run.
“Ben Affleck is clearly a smart guy, so I’m not surprised by this. Sounds familiar and to the point,” Barry wrote in a post on the X show over the weekend.
Some allies wear cloaks
Affleck supported Barry’s criticism of the value of AI on his podcast. He said today’s descriptions of AI chatbots are “really shitty” and “unreliable.”
“I can’t bear to see what this movie is about,” said Affleck, who co-wrote the screenplay for the Oscar-winning “Good Will Hunting” and directed, produced and starred in the Best Picture winner “Argo.”
He predicted that filmmakers would use AI as a tool to save time and money, as well as visual effects, but that AI probably wouldn’t “write anything meaningful” or make entire movies.
Affleck said most AI users rely on chatbots as virtual companions, “no work, no productivity, no value.”
He also questioned the social value of people who interact with AI friends who “tell you that you’re great, listen to everything you say, and flatter you.”
Burley has been making similar arguments regarding AI in recent weeks. He is best known for his prescient bet on the housing bubble of the mid-2000s, immortalized in Michael Lewis’ book The Big Short. Affleck’s predecessor as Batman, Christian Bale, played him in the film version.
After more than two years of virtual silence, Burley returned to X late last year and issued a series of warnings about a dangerous AI bubble. He also closed his hedge fund to outside funding and shifted his focus to writing financial analysis on Substack.
Berry’s central argument is that AI stocks are overvalued. He said they are overinvesting in microchips and data centers that will quickly become obsolete, and are commoditizing and reinforcing technologies that don’t bring returns, paving the way for huge write-downs and plummeting stock prices in the future.
“Returns on investment will continue to decline, almost all AI companies will go out of business, and much of the AI spending will be wiped out,” he recently posted on X.
