Steve Eisman, ‘The Real Eisman Playbook’ podcast host and former Neuberger senior portfolio manager, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss state of the AI boom, calls for a slowdown in AI development, latest market trends, the Fed's interest rate decision, state of the economy, and more.
Questions asked in this interview
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0:00You don't think these Terminator-style fears — you think they're maybe overstated a little bit at this point?
5:39And by the way, there's a clear record of them being concerned about these safety issues literally for the past decade, whether it's Dario or Sam or Elon or whomever, right?
All right, joining us now is Steve Eisman, host of The Real Eisman Playbook podcast and a former senior portfolio manager at Neuberger Berman. And if you've watched Steve's appearances, we always like to hear things that are on both sides. And a lot of times Steve will go, 'No, I don't really feel that excitable or worried.' You're very measured most of the time. And the reason you're saying that is about AI. I think it's the same kind of thing. You don't think these Terminator-style fears — you think they're maybe overstated a little bit at this point? I don't know though if we ever predicted or expected to be saying things like, 'Geez, another company is saying our AI bots are acting up again. Those little monsters.' I mean, it is weird to watch companies say, 'We didn't know what to expect with what we've created. Nothing to worry about.'
All nonsense. I think that there's something else completely going on here. I think the idea that AI — first of all, there's no evidence at all that AI has achieved artificial general intelligence, at all. And most of the evidence seems to point that it never will, or if it does, it's many, many years in the future. But the idea that this whole Terminator thing is nonsense. So I think something completely different is going on. And what I think is happening is that token maxing is over. The open-weight models are taking big market share. I think these companies are very nervous. They realize that there are no moats around their business whatsoever, and they're trying to manufacture a crisis that will create regulation, and that they think they can then manipulate to create the moats, to create the duopoly that they want.
That's David Sacks, but you and David Sacks could have a great bottle of wine. Honestly, I think this whole Terminator thing is garbage. That's for sure.
Okay. But at the same time, last time you were on, I think you said you're not adding to your AI position, and you had actually taken a little bit off the table.
But here's where I'll ask you this question. In all the news services, they all got to put out content. I understand that. But I saw an article the other day and I tried to figure out where I saw it, but I look at so many of them, it doesn't matter. But the eight bubble signs that have been identified in previous bubbles, they're all present now for AI, and it's just a matter of time. Do you believe that on that one?
It sounds like you just described that we're at some type of tipping point for AI if they're desperate to create a narrative because things aren't going well.
I think we're potentially closer, but I think the issue is that at the end of the day, the entire AI chain from Nvidia to the hyperscalers to Anthropic and OpenAI all depends on the future health of Anthropic and OpenAI because there's such a huge percentage of the entire chain. So, if something were to happen to one of those two companies, then the chain would really fall apart. And between the two, OpenAI is the weaker company. I think that's one reason why they postponed their IPO. So, I think that's what you have to focus on.
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Eisman, S. (2026, September 17). 'Big Short' investor Steve Eisman on AI: The companies are trying to manufacture a crisis [Interview transcript]. CNBC Television. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1435337/
MLA
Steve Eisman. "'Big Short' investor Steve Eisman on AI: The companies are trying to manufacture a crisis." CNBC Television, 17 Sep. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1435337/.
BibTeX
@misc{eisman2026_1435337,
author = {Steve Eisman},
title = {'Big Short' investor Steve Eisman on AI: The companies are trying to manufacture a crisis},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, CNBC Television. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {sep},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1435337/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
