Charlie Munger Joked He Liked AI Because 'Real Intelligence' Is So Rare — But Later Decided It Was Getting 'More Hype Than It Deserves'

Long before AI could finish your sentence, write your email, or make your kid's homework suspiciously impressive, Charlie Munger took a swing at artificial intelligence—and true to form, he made it funny.

Back in 2016, in a CNBC interview alongside Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, Munger was asked about IBM's investment in artificial intelligence. At the time, Buffett had bought into IBM and was facing questions over the stock's performance. Munger didn't try to predict where it would go—but he wasn't dismissive either.

"Well, I'm not sure how it's going to come out. But of course I like the fact they're doing it. And any kind of artificial intelligence is very much in the vat. It may well work. I just—I have no way of predicting."

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And then, with a perfectly timed pause, Munger added:

"I like the idea of using artificial intelligence because we're so short of the real thing."

The quote landed, naturally, with laughter. It was classic Munger: skeptical of hype, unimpressed by buzzwords, and deeply unimpressed with human reasoning.

But that was 2016.

By 2023, just months before his death at age 99, Munger's tone had changed. Speaking at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, he didn't reach for jokes. He reached for brakes.

"I'm personally skeptical of some of the hype that has gone into artificial intelligence," Munger said. "I think old-fashioned intelligence works pretty well."

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Buffett echoed the caution. He acknowledged being shown ChatGPT by Gates and called it impressive—but also unsettling.

"When something can do all kinds of things, I get a little bit worried," Buffett said. "Because I know we won't be able to un-invent it."

And then, in October 2023, just weeks before his death, he was asked once again about AI—this time at Zoom's Zoomtopia conference. His answer was sharper, shorter, and even less impressed:

"I think it's getting a huge amount of hype," Munger said. "And I think it's probably getting more than it deserves."

That's the legacy Munger left with AI. Not wide-eyed awe, not doomsday panic—just clear-eyed realism. A willingness to be curious early, and a sharper willingness to call nonsense when the speculation outpaced the substance.

And in true Munger form, it wasn't about the tech—it was about the thinking. Artificial intelligence, real intelligence, investor intelligence. Munger didn't chase shiny objects. He asked whether the logic held up—and if it didn't, he said so.

Even if everyone else was buying.

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