Michael Burry has a knack for walking into the party right when the music is loudest and asking where the fire exits are.

In 2005, that meant shorting the U.S. housing market while everyone else was busy securitizing granite countertops. Today, it means betting against the AI trade while the rest of us are delighting in auto-drafted emails and AI-polished pitch decks. On paper, he is “short AI.” In practice, his long game is quieter and more elemental: water rights, water-rich farmland, water utilities.

He is betting on scarcity against a story that pretends resources are infinite.