Michael Burry of ‘The Big Short’ is back with cryptic messages — and two massive bets

Michael Burry, the famed investor behind “The Big Short,” is betting artificial intelligence is more of a bubble than a revolution.

Burry’s fund, Scion Asset Management, disclosed on Monday that it bought puts — bets that share prices will fall — on two stars of the AI wave: Nvidia (NVDA) and Palantir (PLTR). Scion bought roughly $187.6 million in puts on Nvidia and $912 million in puts on Palantir, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

Burry is known for his prophetic call that the US housing market would collapse in 2008. He was profiled in the 2010 book “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine,” by Michael Lewis, and portrayed by Christian Bale in the 2015 film adaptation.

Now Burry is betting against the hottest AI stocks on the market at a time when concerns are mounting about a bubble. Tech and AI stocks have carried the market in recent months. The S&P 500, which is increasingly concentrated in tech companies, is trading at historically expensive levels.

Meanwhile, the circular financing of AI deals has raised eyebrows on Wall Street, with many tech companies entwined in a massive web of deals with each other. Some investors are also skeptical whether future profit growth will continue to justify the enormous amounts of spending taking place.