Investing

How Financial Advisers Say Clients Can AI-Proof Their Portfolios

S&P 500 Index signage at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York, US, on Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. Weakness in tech stocks weighed down broader US indexes on Friday, as investors started 2026 on cautious footing.Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

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By John Stepek and Josyana Joshua

February 27, 2026 at 3:00 PM UTC

Financial advisers have a suggestion for retail investors feeling rattled by all the doomsaying around artificial intelligence and its disruptive potential for stocks: diversify.

This week drove home how sensitive investors are to the AI scare trade, after a piece of speculative fiction from US research firm Citrini Research posited a frighteningly bearish scenario involving AI agents triggering mass unemployment and an economic death spiral. The S&P 500 Index slid 1% on Monday in its wake, and some companies cited in the report sank even more.