Larry Fink says staying invested defends portfolios as AI reshapes markets and returns
Artificial intelligence is “the most significant technology since, at least, the computer,” but BlackRock CEO Larry Fink warns it could “widen wealth inequality if ownership does not broaden alongside it.”
In his annual letter to shareholders, Fink argued that the gains from AI will flow primarily to companies that “build and deploy” the technology and to “the investors who own them,” according to Reuters.
He wrote that “the massive wealth created over the past several generations flowed mostly to people who already owned financial assets” and that “now AI threatens to repeat that pattern at an even larger scale.”
Fink’s core message is that investors and policymakers need to expand access to ownership.
He argued that most wealth has gone to asset owners rather than workers, and that many people want to invest in their home-country markets but cannot afford to, according to CNN.
He has used his letters to underline “the role of capital markets in building wealth and the importance of long-term investing,” Reuters said.
For individual investors, Fink stressed staying invested rather than trying to time markets.
He wrote that “over time, staying invested has mattered far more than getting the timing right,” and pointed to the past two decades, when “every dollar invested in the S&P 500 grew more than eightfold.”
He also warned that “some of the market’s strongest days came amid the most unsettling headlines” and that “the danger is that we focus so much on the noise that we forget what actually matters.”
That warning comes as global markets absorb overlapping shocks.
CTV News reported that markets have been “roiled” by the escalating US-Israeli conflict with Iran, which has driven sharp spikes in oil prices and disrupted key shipping routes, fuelling inflation fears and denting investor sentiment.
At the same time, “growing concerns that AI could erode the value of legacy software businesses” have pressured some tech names, while “signs of softening consumer spending” and worries about an economic slowdown amid still-elevated interest rates add to volatility.
Fink presented AI as both an economic engine and a source of social strain.
CTV News reported that analysts see AI “rapidly reshaping industries, disrupting job roles and business models,” with “profound shifts” ahead.
In his letter, Fink said AI is poised to create major economic value, and that “ensuring that participation in that growth expands alongside it” will be both a challenge and an opportunity.
He said AI is “here to stay” and will sit at the heart of strategic competition between the United States and China, arguing that American leadership depends on long-term investment in research, infrastructure, talent and deep capital markets.
On the labour side, Fink said most conversations about “the economic disruption of AI” focus on jobs, calling that “an enormously important question, and one that goes beyond economics. Work provides income, purpose, and dignity,” according to CNN.
He wrote that AI may reduce demand for some roles, “especially for entry-level white collar jobs,” but pointed to “roles we know are in clear demand, and pay well: skilled trades, especially the ones building the physical infrastructure of AI, like data centers, power systems, and electrical grids.”
He argued societies need “more than just greater training opportunities in skills like electricians, plumbing and construction trades” and called for “a broader conversation about opportunity, dignity, and the value of different kinds of work.”
BlackRock this month launched a US$100m, five-year initiative to grow skilled trades training, CNN reported.
Fink also cited Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s view that “everybody should be able to make a great living” and that “you don’t need a PhD in computer science to do so.”
Fink paired his inequality warning with policy ideas aimed at widening ownership.
The Wall Street Journal reported that he praised “Trump Accounts – a new type of IRA where eligible children can receive a US$1,000 contribution from the federal government – as a step in the right direction.”
He also backed a proposal for a diversified government retirement investment fund that would sit alongside, rather than replace, the existing Social Security trust fund, with an initial investment of about US$1.5tn, according to CNN.
He wrote that “it would mean introducing a measure of diversification.”
