Billionaire investor Warren Buffett warned his shareholders that artificial intelligence could turn financial scams into the "growth industry of all time," and likened the emerging tecnhology to the development of nuclear weapons.
During Saturday's annual meeting of his Berkshire Hathaway company in Omaha, Nebraska, Buffett acknowledged that he "doesn't understand a damn thing" about AI, but said he knew it "has enormous potential for good and enormous potential for harm," the Associated Press reported.
"I just don't know how that plays out," he told the crowd in the CHI Health Center Arena.
The 93-year-old "Oracle of Omaha" recalled getting nervous when he recently saw an AI-generated image of himself, according to CNBC.
Buffett cited the "potential for scamming people" that would come with the ability to "reproduce images ... that say, 'I need money,' as your daughter. 'I just had a car crash, I need $50,000 wired.'"
Scamming has "always been part of the American scene," said Buffet. " If I was interested in investing in scamming, it's going to be the growth industry of all time."
Buffett also said the world "let the genie out of the bottle when we developed nuclear weapons and that genie has been doing some terrible things lately."
"And the power of that genie is what, you know, scares the hell out of me," he said. "And I don't know any way to get the genie back in the bottle — and AI is somewhat similar."
Also Saturday, Berkshire Hathaway revealed it profits plunged 64% during the first quarter of 2024, to $12.7 billion, compared to the same period last year.
The drop was reportedly largely due to steep declines in the paper value of some investments but the company said most of the businesses it owned performed well and generated strong operating earnings.
This year's annual meeting marked the first at which Buffett wasn't joined by his company's late vice chairman, Charlie Munger, who died in November at 99.
