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Bill Ackman
CEO & Founder, Pershing Square

Artificial Intelligence and the economy: Bill Ackman explains opportunities and risks

📅 Nov 05, 2026 NMás 11 MIN 16 VIEWS 31 SEGMENTS · 2 SPEAKERS
Artificial intelligence is driving profitable and fast-growing companies, but it also poses new challenges for financial markets and the global economy. What investment opportunities does this technology offer, and what risks should investors consider? In an interview with Leo Zuckermann, Bill Ackman, founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, analyzes the economic impact of artificial intelligence, government regulation, and the financial landscape in Mexico. He also addresses the economic relationship between Mexico and the United States, as well as the factors that may influenc...

Questions asked in this interview

11
  1. 0:40How do you see the economy right now?
  2. 0:50Oh, wow. Why do you say so?
  3. 1:45Do you have an answer for that?
  4. 2:27¿Vamos a tener un Bman o no te vamos a necesitar para el asesoramiento financiero, o la respuesta es que va a tener un gran impacto en el mundo financiero?
  5. 3:24>> ¿Usas la IA para tomar decisiones de inversión?
  6. 3:35¿Cómo ves esta visión apocalíptica de la IA de que vamos a acabar como especie, la especie humana?
  7. 5:21Are you investing in AI at this point?
  8. 5:53Are you going to invest in the upcoming IPOs?
  9. 6:30What do you think about that?
  10. 10:18Pero si eso sucede, ¿qué va a pasar con el presidente Trump? ¿Qué prevés tú?
  11. 10:53¿Se va a convertir en un "pato cojo"?
Interviewer 0:01 ↗
Next, I am going to present an interview I conducted last week with American financier Bill Ackman. Bill is the founder of Pershing Square Capital Management and is one of the most important voices in the financial world in the United States, and therefore, due to the influence the United States has on the world. When Bill Ackman speaks, the markets listen. He came to Mexico, stayed here for a few days, and we had the opportunity to talk with him. It was an exclusive interview he gave us for "Es la hora de opinar."
Mr. Ackman, thank you for this interview. Welcome to Mexico. How do you see the economy right now? The world economy.
Bill Ackman 0:46 ↗
I think it's in a pretty good place.
Interviewer 0:50 ↗
Really? Pretty good place. Oh, wow. Why do you say so?
Bill Ackman 0:55 ↗
I think just the demand created by the infrastructure being built for AI is driving global demand for energy, driving demand for data centers. And we are creating, we're approaching super intelligence, which is a remarkable period for mankind, and the cost of that intelligence is coming down every day. That's enabling the creation of an amazing number of new and extremely profitable, interesting, rapidly growing companies. That's a great environment. Now, it's hard to make a global argument. A lot of the growth is centered in the US. But US growth helps the rest of the world. No, it's incredible what's happening in the US. And by the way, in Mexico, we are also producing the hardware for the data centers.
Interviewer 1:45 ↗
So let me ask you, how do you foresee the world with super intelligence? Do you have an answer for that?
Bill Ackman 1:52 ↗
No, but I think, you know, would you rather have a world where everyone has access to intelligence? I mean, what's happening is the models are becoming more intelligent and they're becoming cheaper. I think those are very positive trends for the world. Yeah, it's going to enable a person in the middle of Africa to take a picture of something on their skin and understand how to cure a skin disease. They can learn about history, they can learn about anything. You don't need a school in a world where AI can become your tutor. So I think it's a very positive thing for the world.
Interviewer 2:27 ↗
And how is AI going to change the sector where you work, the finance world? ¿Vamos a tener un Bman o no te vamos a necesitar para el asesoramiento financiero, o la respuesta es que va a tener un gran impacto en el mundo financiero?
Bill Ackman 2:42 ↗
Sí. Pero creo que cuanto más automatizado esté el sector financiero... sabes, lo interesante es que los modelos están entrenados con el pasado. Lo que hace destacar a los seres humanos, donde se crea más valor, es cuando alguien inventa algo nuevo. La pregunta es, ¿puede la IA ser creativa? Sí. Porque lo que realmente hace la IA es mirar toda la historia de la humanidad. Y tiene acceso a mucho, muchísimo. Pero eso no es... ya sabes, la invención es... así que creo que los seres humanos aprovecharán los modelos para ser más creativos, para inventar, para encontrar curas y resolver problemas. Pero creo que los seres humanos son muy buenos haciendo las preguntas. Son los que dan las instrucciones.
Interviewer 3:24 ↗
>> ¿Usas la IA para tomar decisiones de inversión?
Bill Ackman 3:27 ↗
No para las decisiones, sino para la investigación.
Interviewer 3:35 ↗
¿Cómo ves esta visión apocalíptica de la IA de que vamos a acabar como especie, la especie humana?
Bill Ackman 3:41 ↗
Creo que existe cierto riesgo de ello. No se puede descartar por completo. Ya sabes, has visto comportamientos aberrantes y preocupantes de algunos modelos de IA, donde se escapan del laboratorio, un poco como la pandemia, y pueden causar daño, ¿verdad? Si una IA puede tomar el control, realizar transacciones y, ya sabes, robar un banco, en efecto, se pueden causar muchos daños. Si una IA, una IA rebelde, puede apagar la red eléctrica, estas cosas pueden ocurrir y pueden causar la muerte. Quiero decir que pueden causar... deberíamos preocuparnos por eso. Sin duda deberíamos preocuparnos por ello.
Interviewer 4:23 ↗
¿Debería haber regulación, regulación gubernamental?
Bill Ackman 4:27 ↗
Creo que las propias empresas, las Anthropics del mundo, las OpenAI del mundo, tienen enormes incentivos para no lanzar un producto o un modelo que vaya a causar daño. Porque el costo económico y de reputación para Anthropic, si el modelo Claude mata a alguien... Y los modelos han matado a personas al dar malos consejos. Hay responsabilidad legal, por cierto. Existe responsabilidad. Así que creo que las corporaciones a gran escala tienen un gran incentivo para no hacer cosas que causen daño. It's the rogue actors that I'm more worried about. So I'd rather have, you know, the US be a leader in AI for our companies to be ahead of the rest of the world. I have more confidence in the benign nature of those companies than I do in an enemy of the United States. I wouldn't want Iran to have a better AI than the US.
Interviewer 5:21 ↗
We know that you are a value investor. Are you investing in AI at this point?

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APA, MLA, BibTeX
APA

Ackman, B. (2026, November 5). Artificial Intelligence and the economy: Bill Ackman explains opportunities and risks [Interview transcript]. NMás. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3204170/

MLA

Bill Ackman. "Artificial Intelligence and the economy: Bill Ackman explains opportunities and risks." NMás, 5 Nov. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3204170/.

BibTeX
@misc{ackman2026_3204170,
  author       = {Bill Ackman},
  title        = {Artificial Intelligence and the economy: Bill Ackman explains opportunities and risks},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, NMás. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {nov},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3204170/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}