Bloomberg Talks: ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood Talks AI Use in Warfare

Date: March 18, 2026
Host: Bloomberg Interviewer
Guest: Cathie Wood, CEO & CIO, ARK Invest

Episode Overview

This episode features an insightful conversation with Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Invest, focusing on three main areas: the ongoing impact of the Iran war on markets, the evolving role of artificial intelligence (AI) in warfare, and the explosive growth within the AI industry. Wood shares her perspectives on market trends, Federal Reserve decisions, ethical considerations in military technology, and the transformative effect of AI on productivity and business operations.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. War in the Middle East: Market Impact and Historic Parallels

[01:13 – 02:05]

• Market Resilience Amid Conflict:
  Cathie Wood draws comparisons between the current "wall of worry" created by the Iran war and similar periods during the bull markets of the 1980s and 1990s.

• Long-term Optimism:
  Historically, markets have weathered crises—wars, inflation, economic shocks—yet continued upward. Wood signals that current conditions mirror those resilient eras.

  "The Iran war is placing more bricks into the wall of worry that this bull market is climbing...for the rest of that bull market it was one worry after the other...but the market did continue to climb that wall of worry. And I do believe that we are in the same kind of bull market."
  —Cathie Wood [01:13]

2. Inflation, Fed Decisions, and Market Outlook

[02:05 – 03:30]

• Fed Rate Cuts Unlikely:
  Wood believes a rate cut is improbable at the upcoming Fed meeting, pointing to a recent uptick in the core personal consumption deflator (3.1% YoY).

• Alternative Inflation Metrics:
  ARK Invest also monitors "truflation" (a real-time, blockchain-based measure tracking 10,000 goods/services). It peaked at 11–12% during COVID (vs. 9% for CPI) and now sits at 1.5%, suggesting CPI could drop below 2–3% by year-end with consistent trends.

• Energy Prices as a Wildcard:
  She acknowledges that energy fluctuations could influence both truflation and traditional inflation.

  "I don't think they're going to cut at this one. And one of the reasons is the core personal consumption deflator ticked back up...We watch another measure called truflation...That measure of inflation is at one and a half..."
  —Cathie Wood [02:16]

3. Artificial Intelligence in Modern Warfare: Ethics & Efficiency

[03:30 – 05:12]

• Ethical Complexity:
  Wood describes the limits of her expertise on the ethics of AI in war but sees positives if AI helps limit war duration and civilian casualties.

  "If AI is limiting wartime because targets are hit directly and quickly and you know the war is over much more quickly...we are saving a lot of lives, certainly American lives."
  —Cathie Wood [03:50]

• AI's Strategic Value:
  She suggests military and intelligence agencies value AI for its potential to shorten conflicts and minimize broader destruction.

4. Explosive Growth of AI Industry and Productivity Tools

[05:12 – 07:57]

• Revenue Growth in LLM Companies:
  Cathie Wood details rapid revenue acceleration among AI companies:

  • Anthropic: Jumped from a $9B to a $19B annual run rate in just months.
  • OpenAI: Grew from $20B to $25B in a similar timeframe.

• Willingness to Pay:
  Businesses, including ARK Invest, are paying premium prices for AI services ($200–$2,000/month per seat) due to their high impact on productivity.

• Practical Impact on Research:
  AI tools have reduced task times from months to days, fundamentally reshaping research workflows and enabling innovation across departments.

• In-House AI Adoption:
  Employees from across ARK demonstrate AI-driven breakthroughs in daily business meetings, highlighting the unprecedented nature of current advancements.

  "The impact on productivity of these tools is astonishing. More and more people are willing to pay not just $20 a month, but...$200 a month for the many seats that we have on OpenAI and Anthropic...We would not be hiring another research associate. We would be engaging these large language models to help us with our research. And it's the results we are getting...are astonishing..."
  —Cathie Wood [05:41]

  "They're taking us places where, you know, we—it probably would have taken us, I'm going to say months before and now we can do it in days."
  —Cathie Wood [07:18]

Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

• On Historic Bull Markets and Today’s Uncertainty:
  "It was one worry after the other...but the market did continue to climb that wall of worry."
  —Cathie Wood [01:24]
• On Truflation vs. Official CPI:
  "It has tended to lead the CPI. Right now...it's gone from...lower than 1% to 1.5%. If...this is as high as it goes, I think the CPI by the end of this year will resolve below that 2 to 3% range."
  —Cathie Wood [02:45]
• On AI’s Value in Warfare:
  "If it, if AI helps bring wars to an end much more quickly than they have ended historically, I think everyone would agree that that's a good thing."
  —Cathie Wood [04:36]
• On AI-Driven Productivity:
  "The results we're getting are astonishing and many times we have...all the breakthroughs during our morning meeting."
  —Cathie Wood [06:14]

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Time | Segment | |-------|--------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:13 | Cathie Wood on "wall of worry" and bull market resilience | | 02:16 | Inflation, Rate Cuts, and Truflation explained | | 03:50 | Limits and ethics of AI in modern warfare | | 05:41 | Revenue growth and adoption of AI large language models | | 06:14 | Concrete examples of AI boosting research and productivity |

Summary:
Cathie Wood remains upbeat about market resilience in the face of geopolitical risk, sees AI as an ethically complex but potentially life-saving tool in warfare, and is extremely bullish on AI’s transformative effect on business operations and industry revenue. Her commentary provides a compelling snapshot of both Wall Street and Silicon Valley mindsets in 2026.