OMAHA, Neb. — Warren Buffett cautioned the tens of thousands of shareholders who packed an arena for his annual meeting that artificial intelligence scams could become “the growth industry of all time.”

Doubling down on his cautionary words from last year, Buffett told the throngs that he recently came face to face with the downside of AI. And it looked and sounded just like him. Someone made a fake video of Buffett, apparently convincing enough that the so-called Oracle of Omaha himself said he could imagine it tricking him into sending money overseas.

The billionaire investing guru predicted that scammers will seize on the technology and may do more harm with it than society can wring good.

“As someone who doesn’t understand a damn thing about it, it has enormous potential for good and enormous potential for harm, and I just don’t know how that plays out,” he said.

But before Buffett’s musings about AI, the day started early Saturday with Berkshire announcing a steep drop in earnings as the paper value of its investments plummeted and it pared its Apple holdings. The company reported a $12.7 billion profit, or $8,825 per Class A share, in the first quarter, down 64% from $35.5 billion, or $24,377 per A share a year ago.

But Buffett encourages investors to pay more attention to the conglomerate’s operating earnings from the companies it actually owns. Those jumped 39% to $11.222 billion, or $7,796.47 per Class A share, led by insurance companies’ performance.

None of it got in the way of the fun.

Throngs flooded the arena to buy up Squishmallows of Buffett and former Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, who died last fall. The event attracts investors from all over the world and is unlike any other company meeting. Those attending for the first time are driven by an urgency to get here while the 93-year-old Buffett is still alive.

Devotees come from all over the world to vacuum up tidbits of wisdom from Buffett, who famously dubbed the meeting “Woodstock for Capitalists.” But a key ingredient was missing this year: It was the first meeting since Munger died.

For decades, Munger and Buffett functioned as a comedy duo, with Buffett offering lengthy setups to Munger’s witty one-liners.

Munger’s absence, however, created space for shareholders to get to know better the two executives who directly oversee Berkshire’s companies: Ajit Jain, who manages the insurance units; and Greg Abel, who handles everything else and has been named Buffett’s successor. They shared the stage with Buffett this year.

Buffett has made clear that Abel will be Berkshire’s next CEO, but Buffett said Saturday that he had changed his opinion on how the company’s investment portfolio should be handled. He previously said it would fall to two investment managers who handle small chunks of the portfolio now. On Saturday, Buffett endorsed Abel for the gig, as well as overseeing the operating businesses and any acquisitions.