When the Smart Money Quietly Heads for the Exits, the Crash Isn't Far Behind. Former White House Advisor Says It's Already Leaving AI.
The former CIA and Pentagon advisor points to the investors and institutions trimming their AI bets before the public catches on
Washington, D.C., Aug. 01, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- There is a pattern Jim Rickards says he has seen before every major collapse: the most sophisticated investors start slipping out the door while the crowd is still celebrating. In a new presentation, the former advisor to the CIA and the Pentagon argues that exact pattern is playing out in AI right now, and that it is one of the clearest warning signs of what he believes is coming.
The First Sign a Crash Is Coming
For Rickards, the behavior of the biggest players is a signal all its own. When smart money begins to move, he says, "that's one of the first signs a new 'Minsky Moment' is here."
And by his reading, that movement has already started. "And money is beginning to move out of AI fast," Rickards says. The investors with the most resources and the best information, in his view, are not adding to their AI positions. They are quietly reducing them.
It's Not Just Traders. It's Banks and Sovereign Funds.
What gives the trend weight, Rickards argues, is who is behind it. This is not a handful of nervous day traders. "Investors, banks and sovereign wealth funds already know there are serious problems with AI," he says. "So they are trimming their positions and betting against it." He points to some of the largest banks and to one of the world's biggest and most conservative sovereign wealth funds stepping back from AI and data-center investments.
And the stakes, he stresses, reach well beyond a single sector. "And this isn't going to be bad for just AI stocks," Rickards says. "It has the potential to bring the whole economy down." In his framing, when the market's biggest engine falters, the damage does not stay contained.
Getting Out Before the Public Catches On
The reason the smart money is moving now, Rickards argues, is that the outcome is no longer really in doubt. "At this point, it's not a matter of 'if' this bubble pops... It's simply a matter of 'when,'" he says.
That timing gap, in his view, is the whole game. The sophisticated players are not just protecting themselves. "They are positioning themselves to profit before the public catches on and the selling starts," Rickards says. And that, he notes, is where the real opportunity has always lived: "getting ahead of a market crash is how some of the biggest fortunes in history have been built." He frames this as his analysis rather than a certainty, but his message is that the window to act like the smart money, rather than the crowd, is before the turn, not after.
About the Presentation
In his new presentation, Jim Rickards explains why he sees the smart money leaving AI, what that pattern has signaled before past crashes, and the steps he says ordinary investors can take to get ahead of it rather than behind it.
Jim Rickards' presentation is now available online for free. Click here to watch.
About Jim Rickards and Paradigm Press
Jim Rickards is a former advisor to the CIA and the Pentagon who now heads Strategic Intelligence, a research publication focused on complexity theory, geopolitics, and the flow of capital. His team has warned readers ahead of major turning points, from the 2008 collapse to the war in Ukraine to the market crash that arrived with Covid.
Derek Warren Public Relations Manager Paradigm Press Group Email: dwarren@paradigmpressgroup.com
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