"AI Doomsday Report" Author Speaks Out: Market Panic Beyond Expectations, Calls for Imposition of "AI Tax" to Address Unemployment

BlockBeats News, February 24th, Alap Shah, co-author of the "2028 Global Intelligence Crisis" report, publicly spoke out on Tuesday, acknowledging that the market reaction far exceeded expectations and calling on the government to tax AI to address the potential looming large-scale unemployment crisis.

The Chief Investment Officer of Lotus Technology Management, in an interview with Bloomberg TV, warned that in the next 18 months, AI advancements could lead to a 5% reduction in white-collar jobs, with the United States poised to suffer the most significant impact in the absence of policy intervention. He anticipated that service-intensive industries such as insurance and banking face greater risks.

Shah suggested that the government should consider taxing the incremental or windfall gains from AI to offset the impact of labor substitution and protect consumer demand. He believed that the substitution of white-collar labor would create a negative feedback loop: companies would lay off employees to boost profit margins, reinvest the saved funds in AI, and further drive layoffs.

The "2028 Global Intelligence Crisis" is a mind-blowing scenario based on the premise of "AI maintaining rapid development," with its core view that "AI's capabilities continue to exceed expectations, which is actually a significant bearish signal." The report assumes that in 2 years, companies extensively replace white-collar work with AI, creating an unstoppable negative feedback spiral that drains the entire economy, financial system, housing market, and credit system built on the premise that "people are valuable," ultimately leading to an inevitable collapse.

Possibly influenced by the article spreading panic, the US stock market experienced a sharp downturn on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling by 822 points (-1.7%), the S&P 500 Index dropping 1%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index declining by 1.1%. The software sector suffered heavy losses, with Datadog, CrowdStrike, and Zscaler all dropping by over 9%, IBM plummeting by 13%, marking its worst single-day performance since 2000. Mentioned companies like American Express, KKR, and Blackstone also saw significant declines.

Shah admitted to being surprised by the market's response: "I originally expected a minor response, but it was definitely larger than we expected. Considering the level the US market is at, this reaction is not too surprising. AI trading has been going on for three and a half years, basically rising steadily. Now everyone is fully invested on the long side, with few incremental buyers left."

BlockBeats has published the full translated content of the "2028 Global Intelligence Crisis" report on the site, and users can click here to read more.