Buffett shares good news on profits, AI thoughts at meeting

Omaha, Neb., May 8: Billionaire Warren Buffett said artificial intelligence may change the world but new technology won't take away opportunities for investors and he's confident America will continue to prosper despite its bitter political divisions.

Buffett and his partner Charlie Munger spent all day Saturday answering questions at the annual shareholders meeting for his Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate inside a packed arena in Omaha.

“New things coming along doesn’t take away the opportunities. What gives you the opportunities is other people doing dumb things,” said Buffett, who had a chance to try out ChatGPT with his friend Bill Gates a few months back.

“The problem now is that partisanship has moved more towards tribalism, and in tribalism you don't even hear the other side,” he said.

Both Buffett and Munger said the U.S. will benefit from having an open trading relationship with China, Both countries should be careful not to exacerbate tensions — the stakes for the world are too high.

“Everything that increases the tension between these two countries is stupid, stupid, stupid,” Munger said.

The chance to listen to the legendary investors answer questions about business and life attracts people from all over the world to Buffett's hometown. Some shareholders feel a particular urgency to attend because the two men are both in their 90s.

“Charlie Munger is 99. I just wanted to see him in person. It’s on my bucket list,” said Sheraton Wu, 40, from Vancouver. “I have to attend while I can.”

Chloe Lin travelled from Singapore for what she called "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

The two capitalists discussed a range of topics, including:

— Buffett said bank regulators need to find a way to punish executives and board members who make risky decisions that doom a bank.

— The U.S. is carrying a concerning level of debt but it's hard to know how much the country can take on without devaluing the dollar and jeopardizing the world's reserve currency.

— Buffett said Apple — Berkshire's biggest stock holding — is a wonderful business because of how devoted consumers are to their iPhones. "I don’t understand the phone at all,” Buffett said. “But I do understand consumer behaviour.”

— Elon Musk is a brilliant man who has taken on impossible tasks and succeeded even if he “overestimates himself.” Buffett and Munger said, but his approach doesn't appeal to the investors who look for places they can prosper without ridiculous effort.

“We're different,” Munger said. “Warren and I are looking for the easy job we can identify.”

— Berkshire isn’t a big player in commercial real estate but they predicted problems ahead. Munger said the “hollowing out of the downtowns in the United States and elsewhere in the world is going to be quite significant and quite unpleasant.” (AP)