Summary

The remarkable turn in markets and the narrative around artificial intelligence (AI) adoption is turning, frankly, a bit spooky in early 2026. Citrini Research’s widely read AI doomsday essay coined the phrase “ ghost GDP ,” with predictions of an almost supernaturally hollowed-out white-collar workforce. But what if AI’s “ghost in the machine” is a slacker, even a Marxist? That’s the direct question asked by academics Alex Imas , Andy Hall and Jeremy Nguyen (a PhD who has a side hustle as a screenwriter for Disney+).

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