Big Short's Burry Calls for Market Decline to Stop OpenAI and Anthropic Listings

①Burry warned that successful IPOs by Anthropic and OpenAI could expose the market to massive capital losses; ②He wrote, "For the good of humanity, the market should fall sharply and prevent the initial public offerings of OpenAI and Anthropic." Cailian Press, October 1 (Editor Huang Junzhi) As is well known, the renowned short seller and so-called "Big Short" investor Michael Burry is one of the most famous skeptics in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). On Wednesday he once again took aim at the AI boom, warning that successful listings by Anthropic and OpenAI could expose the market to massive capital losses.

Burry wrote on the social media platform X, "For the good of humanity, the market should fall sharply and prevent the initial public offerings (IPOs) of OpenAI and Anthropic."

In another comment he further explained 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.

Burry rose to fame for his precise shorting of mortgage-backed securities before the 2008 financial crisis, a trade documented in Michael Lewis's book The Big Short and the Oscar-winning film The Big Short.

At the end of last October, Burry returned to public view after several years of silence. Since then he has repeatedly warned of stock market bubble risks, disclosed new short positions in AI stocks such as Nvidia, and launched a paid Substack newsletter to freely share his investment views with the public.

Another user on X joked: "Crash the market so Skynet can't go public." "Skynet" refers to the destructive artificial intelligence system in the Terminator film series.

Burry replied: "Pretty much exactly that."

In recent times, Burry has repeatedly questioned whether the massive investment in data centers and AI infrastructure can generate sufficient returns. Earlier this month, he called warnings from OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI leaders about slowing AI development "self-serving," arguing that such warnings help generate hype for their planned initial public offerings.

His latest remarks come as investment in AI infrastructure continues to surge, with the industry's two largest private companies moving toward potential listings. Developing advanced AI models and building the computing infrastructure to support them both require enormous amounts of capital. After going public, the two companies could raise funds from more investors and gain access to more ample sources of capital.

Anthropic's IPO prospectus shows that the AI lab plans to spend $518 billion over the next few years on cloud computing, computing and infrastructure construction, while the company's net loss last year was nearly $42 billion. Anthropic's planned listing valuation could exceed $2 million, and its IPO is expected to take place after the U.S. midterm elections in November.

OpenAI, meanwhile, has postponed its IPO plans to next year. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on Tuesday that the company has no specific timetable for going public, adding that safety work on next-generation AI models remains a more important priority. Earlier this month he also said that, given AI safety concerns, a 2026 listing would not be wise.

On Monday of this week, Burry also warned that the AI bubble could burst sooner than he had expected, while he is shorting some key AI companies. He said he is shifting from short positions in major AI stocks to put options, which allow him to obtain more cost-effective leverage over a shorter time horizon.

He said some of the moves are aimed at reducing tax obligations, but the main reason is that he believes "the AI bubble could burst very soon." Burry's newly acquired large put option positions suggest that the AI trading market could reverse by next summer.