‘Clearly A Smart Guy’: Michael Burry On Ben Affleck’s View That AI ‘Existential Dread’ Is Unjustified, LLMs Produce ‘Sh***y’ Output
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Publish Date: 2026-03-14 03:15:00
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The rapid rise of powerful artificial intelligence tools is dividing experts into two camps. Some believe AI will replace many white-collar jobs, while others see it mainly as a productivity tool that enhances human work. Hedge fund manager Michael Burry is apparently joining the latter.
Burry recently shared a clip on X from a January episode of the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast in which Ben Affleck criticized the hype around artificial intelligence. The Hollywood actor and filmmaker said large language models often produce low-quality output and cannot replace humans in creative work.
“Ben Affleck is clearly a smart guy,” Burry wrote. “So this does not surprise me. It sounds familiar and on point. Delivered much better than I ever could.”
‘Really Sh***y’
Affleck said on the podcast that AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini produce work that lacks quality and reliability. He said he does not believe they will ever write a movie or create anything truly “meaningful.”
“If you try to get ChatGPT or Claude or Gemini to write you something, it’s really shitty,” Affleck said. “And it’s shitty because by its nature, it goes to the mean to the average. And it’s and it’s not reliable.”
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Affleck said that there is growing fear and “existential dread” that AI will wipe out jobs, but he does not agree with that view. He said history shows technological change usually happens slowly and in small steps. He thinks the narrative that AI will take over all jobs soon is pushed by people trying to justify high stock valuations and heavy spending.
“I think a lot of that rhetoric comes from people who are trying to justify valuations around companies where they go, ‘We’re going to change everything in two years,'” Affleck told host Joe Rogan. “The reason they’re saying that is because they need to ascribe a valuation for investment that can warrant the…
