Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood is doubling down on her conviction that AI will revolutionize the service economy, sparking a heated debate with researchers who warn of a looming systemic collapse.
The Massive Bet On DASH
The move comes as Wood labels AI the “most disruptive innovation in history,” arguing that companies harnessing the technology aggressively will “lower their costs, drop prices, and stimulate surprising growth in revenues and earnings.”
The ‘Ghost GDP’ Warning
In a world where autonomous agents optimize for the lowest possible price, Citrini warns of “Ghost GDP”: output that appears in national accounts but fails to circulate through the human economy.
For DoorDash, Citrini argues that “the moat was literally ‘you’re hungry, you’re lazy’… An agent doesn’t have a home screen; it checks twenty vibe-coded alternatives so it can pick the lowest fee.”
ARK Hits Back
Ark’s Director of Research, Nick Grous, dismissed Citrini’s DoorDash critique as “a silly one in an otherwise extremely great piece.” Grous countered that humans will not relinquish their food choices to “random meals” just to save 37 cents.
“If agents optimize across marketplaces, scale is not a disadvantage. It is the advantage,” Grous noted, citing Ark’s latest research on Agent-Oriented Optimization (AOO).
He contends that scaled platforms like DoorDash are best positioned to offer the density and logistics speed that AI agents will prioritize.
As the intelligence displacement spiral looms in the distance, Wood’s $5.4 million bet signals she believes the incumbents won’t just survive the age of agents—they will own it.
DASH Underperforms In 2026
Shares of DASH have dropped by 25.08% year-to-date, while the Nasdaq Composite index has declined by 2.62% in the same period.
The stock was 32.87% lower over the last six months and 15.93% over the year. On Monday, the stock closed 6.60% lower at $164.66. Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that DASH maintains a weak price trend over the short, medium, and long terms, with a poor value score.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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