Buffett Loves His Job So Much, He Retires at 95 — And Won’t Touch AI for the Next 10 Years

The Berkshire Hathaway Annual General Meeting (AGM) is one of the most anticipated investor events in the world. Every year, devout Buffett followers make the pilgrimage to Omaha to hear from the Oracle himself.

But this year brought an unexpected and emotional moment—Warren Buffett announced his retirement as CEO at the end of 2025. Even Greg Abel, his successor, appeared to be hearing it for the first time—along with everyone else.

Yes, we all knew this day would come. We just hoped it would come much later.

#1 Buffett Retiring from Berkshire at Year-End 2025

Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at your end… still hang around and could conceivably be useful in a few cases…. final word would be what Greg said in operations in capital deployment whatever it might be.

Upon Buffett’s death, Howard Buffett is set to become non-executive chairman, while Greg runs the show as CEO. When Warren made the announcement, the room erupted in a standing ovation—you should watch that segment near the end of the AGM. It may give you goosebumps.

Naturally, many investors are concerned about Berkshire’s future performance without Buffett. A selloff when markets open wouldn’t be surprising, but I believe it would be a knee-jerk reaction. In the long run, Berkshire could perform just as well, if not better.

I have no intention, zero, of selling one share of Berkshire Hathaway – it will get given away.

And this wasn’t a sentimental decision. It was economic:

I would add this – the decision to keep every share is an economic decision because I think the prospects of Berkshire will be better under Greg’s management than mine.

That’s the Buffett way. Even his final decision is rooted in rationality. It’s not about enjoying wealth but about doing what’s right—right till the end. It’s a scoreboard to him. That’s discipline.

#2 Buffett Says “No” to AI—For the Next 10 Years

AI is everywhere. And yes, Buffett and Ajit Jain—who runs Berkshire’s insurance businesses—acknowledge that AI will change everything.

Ajit Jain said:

Well there is no question in my mind that AI is going to be a real gamechanger and it's going to change the way we assess risk we price risk we sell the risk and then the way we end up paying claims.

Having said that, I certainly also feel that people end up spending enormous amounts of money trying to chase the next fashionable thing. We are not very good at being the fastest or the first mover. Our approach is more to wait and see until the opportunity crystallizes and we have a better point of view in terms of risk of failure, upside, and downside.

This is classic Berkshire DNA. It’s not that AI can’t be profitable—it’s that assessing bleeding-edge technology simply isn’t their core competency. Berkshire isn’t a venture capital firm, and they wouldn’t do well pretending to be one. They have no edge in chasing the latest tech, and they know it.

Buffett summed it up:

I wouldn’t trade everything that’s developed in AI in the next 10 years for Ajit. If you gave me a choice of having a hundred billion dollars available to participate in the property casualty insurance business for the next 10 years and a choice of getting the top AI product from whoever’s developing it or having Ajit making the decisions, I would take Ajit anytime – and I’m not kidding about that.

Too often, we get swept up in the excitement of the next big opportunity, forgetting that we may lack the edge to compete effectively. Overconfidence and FOMO cloud our judgment—we convince ourselves we can't afford to miss out, even when we don't fully understand the risks or potential rewards. Saying “no” to what looks like a no-brainer can feel foolish, especially while watching others get rich. But unless you truly have an edge, preserving your capital is the smarter move.

#3 Trade Can Be An Act of War

There’s no question that trade can be an act of war, and I think it’s led to bad things like the attitudes it’s brought out in the United States. We should be looking to trade with the rest of the world. We should do what we do best, and they should do what they do best.

With eight countries possessing nuclear weapons, including a few I would call quite unstable, I don’t think it’s a great idea to design a world where a few countries say, “Haha, we’ve won” while other countries are envious.

…The main thing is that trade should not be a weapon. The United States has become an incredibly important country starting from nothing 250 years ago – there’s never been anything like it. And it’s a big mistake when you have 7.5 billion people who don’t like you very well and you have 300 million people crowing about how well they’ve done.

I don’t think it’s right and I don’t think it’s wise. The more prosperous the rest of the world becomes, it won’t be at our expense – the more prosperous we’ll become and the safer we’ll feel and your children will feel someday.

While Buffett didn’t directly criticize Trump’s policies—true to his usual restraint—it’s clear he opposes the broad use of trade tariffs. Such actions risk positioning the U.S. as a global antagonist, and that’s a dangerous place to be.

#4 The US should focus on the Cathedral and not let the Casino take over

Capitalism in the United States has succeeded like nothing you’ve ever seen. But what it is is a combination of this magnificent cathedral which has produced an economy like nothing the world’s ever seen, and then it’s got this massive casino attached.

In the casino, everybody’s having a good time and there’s lots of money changing hands, but the cathedral is what you’ve got to make sure gets fed too. The temptation is very high now to go over to the casino where people say we’ve got magic boxes and all kinds of things that’ll do wonderful things for you. That’s where people are happiest, where you get the most promises, where the most money is for the people that are pushing things.

The balance between the casino and the cathedral – it’s very important that the United States in the next hundred years make sure that the cathedral is not overtaken by the casino. People really like to go to casinos – it’s just so much more fun. They bring bells when you win, they bring you drinks and everything else. It’s designed to move money from one pocket to another.

Capitalism has two sides—one that creates real products and adds value to society, and another that plays financial games. Building real things is hard. Making money with money—especially other people’s money—is far more seductive. For the U.S. to thrive, it must continue producing what the world wants (not necessarily physical goods), and ensure that Wall Street remains a supporting act, not the main event.

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It’s been a remarkable 60-year journey since Buffett took the helm at Berkshire Hathaway. What stands out even more than the returns is his unwavering stewardship—patiently and prudently allocating capital, not just his own, but on behalf of generations of shareholders.

And as JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said it best:

Warren Buffett represents everything that is good about American capitalism and America itself — investing in the growth of our nation and its businesses with integrity, optimism, and common sense.