As chatter about an “AI bubble” heats up, the somewhat emotional men leading Silicon Valley’s biggest artificial intelligence firms aren’t taking criticism lying down. OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Palantir’s Alex Karp both fired back this week at skeptics questioning the sustainability of the AI boom and the soaring valuations attached to it.

In a tense exchange with investor Brad Gerstner, Altman was pressed on how OpenAI — which reportedly brings in around US$13 billion in annual revenue — can support an eye-watering US$1.4 trillion in infrastructure and compute commitments.

“How can a company with $13 billion in revenues make $1.4 trillion of spend commitments?” Gerstner asked. “You’ve heard the criticism, Sam.”

Altman didn’t flinch. “If you want to sell your shares, I’ll find you a buyer."

"Enough.”

🚨 Brad Gerstner, an OpenAI investor, asks Sam Altman how a company with $13B in revenue can afford $1.4T in commitments. Altman’s reply? “Happy to find a buyer for your shares.” Translation: No answer. Very concerning. 🚩 pic.twitter.com/9jJKGw9QbF

— WallStreetPro (@wallstreetpro) November 2, 2025

He added (after an awkward pause), “I think there’s a lot of people who talk with a lot of breathless concern about our compute stuff or whatever that would be thrilled to buy shares. We could sell your shares or anybody else’s to some of the people who are making the most noise on Twitter about this very quickly.”

Meanwhile, over at surveillance monolith Palantir, CEO Alex Karp, presumably delivering results from inside the company's volcano-based lair, struck a more theatrical tone. Karp sat mocking those who sat out the rally in AI stocks. “We’re rocking along,” Karp said. “Please turn on the conventional television and see how unhappy those that didn’t invest in us are. Enjoy."

"Get some popcorn. They’re crying.”

He went on to praise Palantir’s loyal backers — especially small investors — painting them as partners in a bigger mission. “We are every day making this company better,” Karp said. “We’re doing it for this nation, for allied countries and, uh, also for — and I never really like the term retail investors — how about sane people who put up their own money and fight for us?”

Palantir CEO Alex Karp’s Q3 2025 earnings call message to retail shareholders 🍿🔮

“Turn on TV and see how unhappy those that didn’t invest in us are. Get some popcorn, they’re crying.” pic.twitter.com/HdY01fuMz7

— Jawwwn (@jawwwn_) November 3, 2025

Karp framed Palantir’s work as both patriotic and populist, saying the company’s technology supports “meritocracy, lethal technology vis-à-vis adversaries, and products that spread GDP to working class men and women by making their value creation higher.”

Enter the bear: 'Big Short' Burry bets big against bots

But not everyone’s convinced the AI story ends happily. Michael Burry, the hedge fund manager made famous by The Big Short, has taken a massive position against the sector’s biggest names. And as usual, he’s putting real money behind it.

New regulatory filings show Burry’s Scion Asset Management has purchased five million put options on Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) and one million put options on NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) — effectively betting that their share prices will fall.

Burry’s bearish bet on Palantir alone has a rough market value of almost a billion dollars, while his position against NVIDIA is worth about US$186 million.

It’s a bold move against two of the most hyped names in the AI trade: NVIDIA, the chipmaker powering the industry’s hardware boom, and Palantir, the software company riding a wave of government and defense contracts tied to artificial intelligence.

Burry’s latest moves suggest he sees echoes of past market manias in today’s AI frenzy — a conviction that’s familiar to anyone who watched him successfully predict the 2008 housing collapse.

However, as one Twitter user points out, Burry is famous for saying the sky is falling. And he's not always right: "Michael Burry has successfully predicted 18 of the last two recessions," Twitter joked.