| In the end, the U.S. economy implodes, along with - presumably - Western Civilization itself. The author warns that we were all blinded by the prosperity-enhancing potential of AI. "We probably could have figured this out sooner," he writes, "if we just asked how much machines spend on discretionary goods. (Hint: it's zero.)" Shah argues that we are now in a negative feedback loop with no natural brake. As AI capacities improve, companies need fewer workers. White collar layoffs increase. Displaced workers spend less. Margin pressures push firms to invest more in AI. AI capacities improve... It's a vicious circle that somehow takes us straight to Dante's vision of the underworld. The author claims that we are headed for a "human intelligence displacement spiral." Throughout economic history, our intelligence has been a scarce input. Humans' ability to analyze, coordinate, create, persuade, and decide could never be replicated at scale. But now - with AI - it can. And as jobs, income, and consumer spending disappear, so do sales, earnings, share prices, and the world as we once knew it. Have a nice day! It's more than a little scary, which is no doubt why the report has been viewed over 22 million times. It's also why the market sold off Monday, and particularly the shares of companies name-checked by Citrini. (Those include Datadog, CrowdStrike, Zscaler, American Express, KKR, Blackstone, and DoorDash.) Look, there is much that no one knows about the future of AI. As a result, there are a lot of projections and possibilities floating around out there. But possibilities are not the same thing as probabilities. We might take a closer look at the report's author, Alap Shah, and his employer, Citrini Research. I'd never heard of either. Neither has anyone on my research team. Of course, I've only been doing this for 40 years, so I may have missed something. I did a little research. Citrini is not a research arm of a big bank or investment house. It doesn't produce official forecasts used by institutional investors. It doesn't even manage money at scale. Its influence comes mostly from viral pieces followed by retail investors. There is no audited track record of its predictions. (Or, at least none that my research team - or various AI platforms - could find.) Citrini Research is a niche-based investment research outfit that publishes reports on "megatrends" - from AI to healthcare to macroeconomics - largely via Substack and financial media. This doesn't mean that its current AI scenario - which it calls a thought exercise not a prediction - isn't correct. But it doesn't lend a lot of confidence. There is plenty that Citrini and other AI doomsters overlook, don't mention, or haven't considered. We'll discuss those things in Monday's column. In the meantime, sleep well... Good investing, Alex P.S. The market doesn't wait. And neither should you. If you'd like to receive timely insights and important updates from Liberty Through Wealth delivered straight to your phone, I encourage you to sign up for our free text alerts today. | 
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