A version of this article first appeared on TKer.co
OMAHA, Neb. — Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett has mixed feelings about artificial intelligence (AI).
“This has enormous potential for good and enormous potential for bad,” Buffett said at Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting on Saturday.
He shared a personal experience with AI that left him shaking.
“Quite recently I saw an image in front of my screen,” he said. “It was me, and it was my voice and the kind of clothes I wear. My wife or my daughter wouldn’t have been able to detect any difference. And it delivered a message that in no way came from me.”
He explained: “When you think about the potential for scamming… Scamming has always been a part of the American scene. If I was interested in investing in scamming, it would be the growth industry of all time. “
Buffett has made comparisons to the emergence of nuclear weapons.
“We let the genie out of the bottle when we developed nuclear weapons, and that genie did terrible things,” he said. “The power of this genie scares me. And I don’t know of any way to put the genie back in the bottle. And the AI is somewhat similar. It’s part of the way out of the bottle.”
In the investment context, analysts have mostly spoken optimistically about AI due to its potential to improve productivity across many industries. TKer wrote about this story here, hereAnd here.
Asked later about how Berkshire’s businesses could be disrupted by AI, Buffett noted that the technology would affect “everything sensitive at work” and that for workers it could “create a tremendous amount of time free.”
Greg Abel, vice president of Berkshire’s non-insurance business, added that “we are in the early stages” of understanding the impact.
Buffett has already adopted this tone
Buffett, arguably the most successful stock market investor in history, is well known for his persistence bullish long-term view of the American economy and stock market.
“I understand the rules, the weaknesses and the strengths of the United States,” Buffett said Saturday. “I don’t usually have the same feeling everywhere in the world. And luckily I don’t have to.”
But he’s no stranger to expressing caution on issues with significant downside risks, particularly when it comes to technology.
For example, Buffett has spoken openly about his concerns about cyberattacks. Here is some language I shared in the March 5, 2023 issue of TKer:
“There is, however, a clear, present, and lasting danger to Berkshire, against which Charlie and I are powerless. This threat to Berkshire is also the major threat our citizens face: a ‘successful’ biological cyberattack (as defined by the aggressor), a nuclear or chemical attack against the United States. Buffett in 2016“
“I don’t know much about cyber, but I think it’s humanity’s number one problem.” – Buffett in 2017
“Cyber is uncharted territory. It’s going to get worse, right…
