How a Former EMT Just Sank a Bunch of Stocks on AI Fears

Core Insights - A viral Substack post titled "The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis" negatively impacted several high-profile stocks, particularly in the SaaS sector, payment networks like Visa and Mastercard, and gig-economy companies such as DoorDash and Uber [1][2] Group 1: Impact of the Viral Post - The post theorizes that AI could lead to a doom loop where job losses and wage declines reduce consumption, causing companies to increasingly rely on AI, potentially spiking unemployment above 10% and leading to a 38% plunge in the S&P 500 [2] - SaaS companies are predicted to be the first victims of this cycle, which could extend to other sectors as AI agents lower barriers to entry [2] Group 2: Author and Origin of the Post - The essay was written by James van Geelen of Citrini Research, who has gained popularity for his thematic investment focus despite a nontraditional background [3] - The original idea for the essay came from hedge fund manager Alap Shah, who was shorting the stocks mentioned, although this was not disclosed in the initial report [4] Group 3: Industry Practices - It is common for hedge funds to provide negative reports to newsletter writers, who may not originate the ideas or hold positions in the stocks discussed, leading to increased subscriber counts [5] - Hedge funds typically prefer to remain anonymous in these reports for legal reasons, and the viral post functioned as a disguised short-seller report in a volatile market [6]