Investor Michael Burry said OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI executives urging a slowdown in model development are acting out of self-interest. He gave four reasons: he does not view chatbots as a pathway to AGI so sees no need to curb progress; a slowdown would advantage incumbent AI giants and hinder smaller rivals; portraying AI as an extinction-level threat fuels hype that can support IPO activity; and deliberate deceleration can be used to mask an inability to control growth. Burry added that

2026-09-14

Investor Michael Burry said OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI executives urging a slowdown in model development are acting out of self-interest. He gave four reasons: he does not view chatbots as a pathway to AGI so sees no need to curb progress; a slowdown would advantage incumbent AI giants and hinder smaller rivals; portraying AI as an extinction-level threat fuels hype that can support IPO activity; and deliberate deceleration can be used to mask an inability to control growth. Burry added that LLMs such as Claude and ChatGPT will not deliver true reasoning capabilities, at least for now. He has shorted several AI companies this year and warned of overinvestment in AI infrastructure, aggressive accounting, hidden leverage and circular trading.