Jim Cramer Slams Citrini Research’s ‘Dystopian’ 2028 AI Thesis As High-Stakes Science Fiction

After the stock market was rocked by a wave of AI-driven anxiety on Monday, followed by a rebound on Tuesday, Jim Cramer dismissed a viral research paper that sent software stocks into a tailspin.

A Market Gripped By ‘Science Fiction’

On the Mad Money episode, Cramer addressed a provocative paper by Citrini Research titled “The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis,” a primary catalyst for the Dow’s 822-point plunge on Monday. He described the work as a “stunning, well-written, incredibly pessimistic” narrative that fundamentally questions the future of white-collar employment.

While the market reacted with panic, Cramer was quick to label the thesis “high-stakes science fiction.” Referring to the bleak outlook for human workers, Cramer joked that the paper does everything but quote the famous line from Predator: “We’re all going to die.”

Despite his skepticism, he acknowledged that the “AI apocalypse fears” are materially affecting the price-to-earnings multiples of tech giants such as Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM), Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE), and ServiceNow Inc. (NYSE:NOW).

Flight To ‘HALO’ Assets

As enterprise software took a “pummeling,” a new defensive strategy emerged from the institutional desks at Goldman Sachs. While Cramer debated the “dystopian” future, Goldman strategists noted a significant rotation into asset-heavy stocks, as per a Bloomberg report.

The Goldman team identified a “HALO effect”—favoring companies with Heavy Assets and Low Obsolescence.

Goldman noted that capital-intensive stocks, which rely on physical infrastructure and engineering complexity, have outperformed capital-light, human-reliant groups by 35% since early 2025.

“Markets are rewarding capacity, networks, and infrastructure—assets that are costly to replicate,” wrote Goldman’s Guillaume Jaisson. This shift reflects a growing institutional preference for “tangible productive assets” as a hedge against Citrini’s predicted “white-collar crunch.”

The Multiples Dilemma

Cramer concluded that while he believes AI will ultimately spur the economy like the 1990s computer boom, the immediate threat is to valuations.

“The multiple is the secret sauce,” Cramer warned, noting that with these “AI apocalypse fears floating around, the multiples are too high.”

As Citrini’s “Intelligence Displacement Spiral” clashes with Cramer’s industrial optimism and Goldman’s “HALO” defense, investors are left navigating a market where, in Cramer’s words, “a piece of science fiction can crush the market as if it’s science fact.”

Here’s a list of a few software stock-linked ETFs for investors to consider.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.