Warren Buffett is admittedly not an expert in this field artificial intelligence – but what he knows makes him nervous.
Talking about question and answer session at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder conference On Saturday, Buffett compared the emergence of artificial intelligence to his views on nuclear weapons. Berkshire’s CEO echoed his remarks at last year’s conference, recalling that he described the nuclear bomb as a genie released from the bottom that “does terrible things” and “scares the hell out of him.”
“Artificial intelligence is somewhat similar, it is already partially out of the bottle and it is extremely essential and someone will take care of it,” Buffet said on Saturday. “We may wish we had never seen this genie, for he can do wonderful things.”
Although he said he wasn’t very familiar with the technology, one experience made him “a little nervous” about AI: He came across a video of an AI-generated likeness of himself, “delivering a message that was in no way” it came from him. He feared it could open the door to potential fraud, calling it an “all-time growth industry.”
“I really think, as someone who doesn’t understand a damn thing about it, that it has huge potential for good and huge potential for harm,” he said. “And I just don’t know how it’s going to play out.”
The a highly anticipated and closely watched annual conferenceDubbed “Woodstock for Capitalists” by fans, it began on Friday in Buffett’s hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.
Shareholders have been waiting all year for the opportunity to hear directly from 93-year-old Buffett, known as the Oracle of Omaha. Vice-chairs Ajit Jain and Greg Abel joined the panel.
Before the conference, Berkshire reported a record $189 billion in cash and treasuries, up 13% in just three months, and a 39% year-over-year augment in operating profits to $11.22 billion.
