Billionaire investors Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger aren’t sold on AI hype: ‘Old-fashioned intelligence works pretty well’

• Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger appeared skeptical of AI during an annual shareholder meeting.
• Buffett said he tested out AI with Bill Gates and it has gotten him “a little bit worried.”
• 99-year-old Munger said he thinks “old-fashioned intelligence works pretty well.”

Billionaire investors Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger haven’t quite bought into the artificial intelligence hype.

During Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting on Saturday, the investment company’s CEO and its vice chairman appeared dubious of the technology when they were asked how artificial intelligence could impact the market, as well as society.

“There won’t be anything in AI that replaces the gene,” Buffett said. “I’ll state that unqualifiedly.”

92-year-old Buffett told the audience that Bill Gates showed him the technology earlier this year and while it did “remarkable things,” he said “it just isn’t there” when it comes to things like telling jokes. He later added that AI could “change everything in the world except how men think and behave.”

99-year-old Munger expressed a similar lack of enthusiasm for AI.

“I am personally skeptical of some of the hype that is going into artificial intelligence,” Munger said. “I think old-fashioned intelligence works pretty well.”

Buffett also added a note of caution regarding the technology which he compared to the development of the atom bomb. In the past, he has spoken out against the dangers of nuclear weapons.

“It can do all kinds of things,” Buffett said on Saturday of AI. “And when something can do all kinds of things, I get a little bit worried because I know we won’t be able to un-invent it.” 

Both Buffett and Munger have questioned in the past whether artificial intelligence will be beneficial to society. Earlier this year, Buffett’s righthand man said AI won’t be able to do “everything that we want,” like cure cancer.

Unlike Buffett and Munger — who have been skeptical of the impact of new technologies on financial markets in the past — many tech executives have hopped onto the AI hype train and launched an AI arms race of sorts.

Last month, executives at Google, Microsoft, and Meta mentioned the word “AI” dozens of times during their company earnings calls. Gates, Buffett’s longtime friend, has also been outspoken in his support for the technology. In March, the Microsoft cofounder wrote an eight-page blog post in which he detailed how he thinks AI will transform everything from healthcare and education to the global workforce as a whole.

Buffett is not the only one to express concerns about the future impact of the technology. Earlier this year, several AI experts and tech executives, including Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, signed an open letter calling for a pause on AI advances (Musk, however, is also trying to build his own ChatGPT rival, Insider previously reported). Executives at the tech companies deploying AI products have also called for government oversight and increased regulation for the technology.