Blackstone COO Jon Gray discusses AI bets and private credit
Jon Gray says Blackstone “go big” on themes and stresses challenging convictions as it invests heavily around artificial intelligence. He discusses investing as “pattern recognition” and critiques concerns about private credit’s systemic risk.
Jon Gray says one of the firm’s distinguishing habits is to “go big” when it finds a theme it believes in.
Jon Gray, chief operating officer of the $1.3 trillion asset manager Blackstone, says one of the firm’s distinguishing habits is to “go big” when it finds a theme it believes in.
But he also says successful convictions need to be challenged, particularly as Blackstone invests heavily around artificial intelligence. “You keep pressing against what you’re doing to confirm that you haven’t just sort of fallen in love,” he says.
In this episode of The CEO Signal, Gray describes investing as “pattern recognition”: finding “good neighborhoods,” and connecting the dots before others do.
Hosted by Penny Pritzker and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, the conversation also explores how Blackstone makes investment decisions at scale and why Gray worries strong systems can “stamp out the entrepreneurial spirit.” Gray also addresses the current debate around private credit.
He says lower returns as rates fall and spreads tighten would be a “totally reasonable criticism,” while rejecting claims that the asset class is creating systemic risk or heading for collapse as “not very logical.”