Michael Burry Says a Crash That Stops OpenAI and Anthropic From Listing Would Be Good for Humanity

October 1 (IT Home) — According to a report by Business Insider in the early hours of today (the 1st), the well-known short-seller Michael Burry, the real-life figure behind The Big Short, believes that a market crash severe enough to stop OpenAI and Anthropic from going public would actually be good for humanity. “For the good of humanity, the market should fall hard — don’t let OpenAI and Anthropic list.”

Burry explained further that the two companies would suck up trillions of dollars and ultimately destroy that money — and that this would be the least of the damage they could cause.

One user joked: “Crash the market so Skynet can’t go public.” Burry replied: “That’s roughly the idea.”

IT Home notes: “Skynet” refers to the destructive artificial intelligence system in the Terminator films.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said earlier this month that, given AI safety concerns, going public in 2026 would not be wise. A prospectus seen by Reuters, meanwhile, indicates that Anthropic will most likely list after the US midterm elections in November.

Developing advanced AI models and building the computing infrastructure that keeps them running both require enormous amounts of money. Once listed, the two companies could raise funds from more investors and gain a more ample source of capital.

In a post on Substack this week, Burry said he is more convinced than ever that his bearish call on AI will be borne out within the next year; he had previously expected it around 2028.

On that basis, Burry adjusted his bearish bets on several targets, covering Nvidia, Palantir, Micron, Oracle and the Nasdaq 100 index.

Burry argues that debt-fuelled investment in chips and data centres is unsustainable and highly vulnerable to rising interest rates. Once spending slows, “the whole system falls apart.”

This year, however, AI-related stocks have kept hitting record highs, and investors have largely ignored these concerns.