AI report goes viral after warning the importance of human intelligence will ‘unwind’

A new article offering an apocalyptic vision of humanity's future with artificial intelligence has gone viral and caused stock prices to tumble in major tech and financial firms.“The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis,” published Sunday by Citrini Research, strikes a doomsday tone about the looming threat of AI to white-collar work, and what could potentially lead to a “global intelligence crisis.” “For the entirety of modern economic history, human intelligence has been the scarce input,” wrote Citrini Research in the report. “We are now experiencing the unwind of that premium.” It continued: “Machine intelligence is now a competent and rapidly improving substitute for human intelligence across a growing range of tasks. The financial system, optimized over decades for a world of scarce human minds, is repricing. That repricing is painful, disorderly, and far from complete.”Citrini Research was founded by James van Geelen, who co-authored the post with Alap Shah, known for running AI-focused investment fund, Lotus Technology Management. The small research firm, which started in 2023, is one of the top finance blogs on Substack, according to The Wall Street Journal. The authors noted the article was not a prediction, but a hypothetical situation as if it were June 2028, and posed the question of whether “our AI bullishness continues to be right…and what if that’s actually bearish?” Despite the cautionary note, the article spread like wildfire Monday. Shares in software firms that utilize AI - Datadog, CrowdStrike and Zscaler - each dropped more than 9 percent. IBM, which has an integrated AI development studio Watsonx, also saw its stock drop 13 percent, in its worst one-day performance since 2000. American Express, KKR and Blackstone, all mentioned in the Citrini post, also fell, according to The Wall Street Journal. Share in DoorDash fell 6.6 percent Monday after the article called the delivery app a “poster child” for how new AI technology would disrupt businesses that profit from so-called “interpersonal friction.”Citrini suggested that in the future, AI agents would help drivers and customers navigate food deliveries at a much lower cost. DoorDash co-founder Andy Fang responded to the report by saying that that he believes “agentic commerce will be transformative to the industry” - referencing shopping powered by AI agents acting on customers’ behalf. But with it, his company will need to evolve in ways to work for both AI agents and customers. “The ground is shifting underneath our feet, and the industry is going to need to adapt to it,” he wrote on X. AI has been driving global financial markets for the past couple of years, though experts have questioned whether its a stock market “bubble” due to overconfidence from investors. Bubbles are dangerous as prices become disconnected from the value of the companies, meaning they can suddenly collapse without warning. The AI boom can be felt throughout industries, though some young people worry AI will take away entry level jobs. A 2025 report from think tank the Brookings Institution suggests AI adoption has led to employment and firm growth, but not widespread job loss. The fears of AI disruption are “happening sooner than most folks anticipated,” Jordan Rizzuto, chief investment officer for investment strategy research firm GammaRoad Capital Partners, told the Journal. “Such is the nature of an accelerating technology.” Global stocks were also lower on Monday due to fresh uncertainty over U.S. trade policy. Over the weekend, President Donald Trump said he would increase his global tariff rate to 15 percent, after the Supreme Court ruled his sweeping global tariffs were unlawfully imposed.