Can AI Replace You? Rich Dad Poor Dad Author’s Tip Amid Dorsey’s Layoffs, Citrini Doomsday Scenario | Explainers News

Last Updated:February 28, 2026, 13:57 IST

‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ author Robert Kiyosaki’s message of “thinking like an entrepreneur and hiring AI to become richer” explained

A recent Citrini Research, a provocative macro-analysis titled ‘The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis’, recently triggered a significant ‘AI scare trade’ across global markets. The report was a thematic thought experiment exploring a scenario where the rapid success of artificial intelligence (AI) leads to systemic economic instability or doomsday by June 2028.

Shares of fintech firm Block surged as much as 27% in post-market trading after CEO Jack Dorsey announced plans to cut about 4,000 jobs, nearly half the company’s workforce, in what he described as a strategic shift driven by artificial intelligence.

Does it mean AI will replace you? Here’s what ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ author Robert Kiyosaki says.

Robert Kiyosaki’s tip

Kiyosaki wrote on X: “AI MAKES the RICH RICHER: Jack Dorsey just fired 4400 hundred employees. Not because the company needed the money. Dorsey admitted each employee made his company millions of dollars. Dorsey fired 4400 employee because AI could do their jobs. RICH DAD LESSON: Think like an employee and AI will replace you. Think like an entrepreneur and hire AI to make you richer….like Jack Dorsey. Take care.”

What the tip means

Kiyosaki argues that artificial intelligence increases productivity so dramatically that companies can generate the same or more revenue with far fewer workers. In his framing, AI doesn’t just cut costs — it concentrates economic gains in the hands of business owners and shareholders. So when he says “AI makes the rich richer,” he means that those who own companies or control capital benefit disproportionately from automation, while employees are more vulnerable.

The “Rich Dad Lesson” part reflects his long-standing philosophy from Rich Dad Poor Dad: If you “think like an employee,” you depend on wages — and wages can be replaced by automation. If you “think like an entrepreneur,” you use tools (in this case AI) to increase productivity, reduce labor costs, and expand profits.

In simple terms, he’s saying: AI is a tool. If you’re the worker, it may replace you. If you’re the owner, it may multiply your wealth.

Who is Robert Kiyosaki?

Kiyosaki is highly vocal about global financial instability, warning repeatedly that a major market crash is imminent and urging followers to prepare by investing in “real money” like Bitcoin, gold, and silver rather than holding fiat currencies, which he calls “fake money” that loses purchasing power through inflation and money printing.

He argues that traditional employment and saving strategies keep people poor and that financial education, entrepreneurship, and owning income-producing assets are keys to wealth, emphasising that you shouldn’t work for money but make it work for you and that AI and conventional jobs could replace workers if they don’t adopt an entrepreneur mindset.

Recently he sold a portion of his Bitcoin holdings at high prices while reaffirming long-term bullishness on cryptocurrencies, planning to reinvest in cash-flow businesses, and continues to stress Bitcoin’s scarcity as a hedge against currency devaluation.

Critics contend his predictions of crashes are frequent and exaggerated, his guidance can be oversimplified or contradictory (e.g., shifting silver advice), and some of his past business dealings and teaching methods (like focusing on anecdotes over rigorous financial data) undermine the credibility of his advice.

His core financial philosophy resonates with many seeking alternatives to conventional financial advice, but experts caution that his doomsday forecasts and asset recommendations carry risk and lack universal applicability.

Why Dorsey decided to layoff employees

Announcing the decision on X, Dorsey said the layoffs were not a sign of distress.

“We’re not making this decision because we’re in trouble. Our business is strong. Gross profit continues to grow, we continue to serve more and more customers, and profitability is improving. But something has changed. We’re already seeing that the intelligence tools we’re creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company. And that’s accelerating rapidly.”

He said Block chose a single deep round of cuts rather than multiple smaller layoffs over time, arguing that a leaner structure would allow the company to grow strategically instead of reacting to market pressures.

Layoffs, ghost GDP and more: What Citrini Research’s ‘scenario, not a prediction’ said

The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis is a viral, highly speculative macro scenario report published in February 2026 by Citron Research and co-authored by analysts including Alap Shah. The report doesn’t present itself as a forecast but rather as a thought experiment exploring how rapid adoption of autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) might drastically reshape the global economy over the next few years. In its imagined narrative from June 2028, the authors argue that advancements in AI agents could replace a large share of white-collar work, leading to mass unemployment, collapsed consumer demand, and a deep economic downturn despite rising aggregate output—what the authors call “Ghost GDP” (production that shows up in national accounts but doesn’t circulate through the real economy). The scenario describes a chain reaction where automation displaces workers, reduces spending, triggers mortgage and credit defaults, and ultimately leads to major stock market declines, with US unemployment rising to around 10.2 % and the S&P 500 down broadly from its 2026 highs.

The report tapped into existing market anxiety about AI’s disruptive potential and quickly spread online, contributing to sharp sell-offs in tech and software stocks when investors interpreted its dystopian scenario as a credible risk. It is framed explicitly as a “scenario, not a prediction,” intended to illustrate “left tail risks” if AI integration into the economy accelerates faster than adaptation.

Economists and investors have sharply divided responses. Some see it as a useful warning highlighting broader questions about labor displacement and demand in an AI-dominated economy, while many mainstream economists and firms such as Citadel Securities argue the scenario is based on flawed logic and unrealistic assumptions—for example, underestimating how new industries, fiscal policy, and consumer demand could evolve. Critics also say it resembles past doomsday narratives that didn’t materialize and oversimplifies complex macroeconomic relationships.

The report has categorically said that it is not a prediction of what will happen in future but a case study of all the scenarios that may unfold if the current AI rollout continues. “What follows is a scenario, not a prediction. This isn’t bear porn or AI doomer fan-fiction. The sole intent of this piece is modeling a scenario that’s been relatively underexplored,” the report says.

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