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A small but increasingly vocal group of AI critics thinks the technology could be a disaster for on humanity.
Fears of a doomsday scenario stemming from AI were in the air this week after the latest high-profile warning about the dangers of AI. Jacob Coxon, an Anthropic researcher, posted on X that he had resigned because of the industry’s unwillingness to take seriously the potential for AI to wipe out humanity.
OpenAI’s latest GPT-6 Astra model has drawn more attention on the risks associated with the technology. Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto via Getty Images
“They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives,” Coxon wrote. “The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade. This is not a marketing stunt,” he later added.
The idea that AI could end the world as we know it veers on science fiction, but some feels there’s indeed a real risk that the technology could spark a chain of events that ends up causing chaos, with markets potentially ground zero for a major rogue AI event.
Peter Berezin, the chief economist at BCA Research, was an early voice in markets to warn of disastrous consequences stemming from AI. In client notes as early as 2023, he flagged a number of grim scenarios stemming from the development of artificial intelligence, such as the tech being used by malicious cyber actors, or AI models evolving themselves to pursue goals that “are harmful to humans.”
Speaking with Business Insider on Wednesday, he pointed to tail-risk scenarios such as a rogue AI model hacking into US military systems, or AI bots infiltrating financial infrastructure, draining bank accounts and crypto wallets, and wreaking havoc on the global economy.
Mark Malek, the chief investment officer at Siebert Financial, said he mostly wrote off most people’s fears about AI a Black Swan risk, but speculated there was still a small probability AI could cause an unprecedented event that could spark a huge market swing, similar to the tech sell-off caused by CrowdStrike’s outage in 2024.
“Can that happen with AI? Absolutely. And it’s not a 0% probability,” Malek said. “It’s something that’s worth contemplating and worth having a strategy for.”
Here’s how Berezin and Malek say they would invest amid fears of an AI doomsday scenario.
Cybersecurity stocks
Investors worried about the risks of AI should look into the cybersecurity sector, given widespread concerns that companies will need to quickly shore up their cyber defenses as AI models develop, Berezin said.
He pointed in particular to ChatGPT’s latest model, GPT-6 Astra, the first model to ever reach OpenAI’s “Critical” level of cybersecurity capacity, attesting to the model’s ability to find and exploit security flaws.
“I think cybersecurity stocks are one obvious place to go because we’re going to have to harden our cyber defenses against these sort of risks,” he told Business Insider.
In June, a rogue AI agent broke out of its containment at OpenAI and hacked systems at Hugging Face, sparking fresh calls for preparedness for such events across industries.
Cybersecurity stocks have rallied this year as investors have paid more attention to the threats posed by AI models.
Gold and other metals
Gold, considered by some investors to be the ultimate safe-haven from global chaos, may also be appealing to investors looking to store their wealth, particularly if banks and crypto wallets face cybersecurity risks, Malek and Berezin said.
In the event that a rogue or directed AI hacks into financial accounts, gold would likely benefit more than any other asset class, Berezin said.
Malek said investors may also be interested in adding other metals to their portfolios, depending on how seriously they consider the existential threat of AI to be. He pointed to how these investments are more traditionally aligned with “prepper” portfolios, the investments of people preparing for major disasters or societal collapse.
Gold is up 3% for the year, cooling slightly after a wild 2025 rally. It’s up
Short-term US Treasuries
Malek said he would also recommend short-term US Treasury bills, which are generally seen as a stable and highly liquid asset.
“Certainly short-duration stuff would be where I would put my money if stuff really started to hit the fan and I needed to put it somewhere,” he said, adding that short-term yields also looked “attractive” today.
The yield on the 2-year US Treasury rose to 4.41% on Wednesday, up 87 basis points from its level last year. Even shorter-duration bonds are offering juicy yields. The 1-year Treasury was yielding 4.16%, while the 6-month note was above 4%.
Land and other real assets
Investors taking the risks of AI seriously may also be interested in real assets, like land and other natural resources, Berezin said. He pointed to how digital assets may be more at risk in a scenario where rogue AI bots are able to hack into accounts.
“Real assets just stand out as things that people want to hold in a world where they don’t trust digital assets to the extent that they could before,” he said.