AI 2041 summary

Amaka was scared. A shady company called Ljele had asked him to use his skills as an expert programmer to create a deepfake video for them. He had to make a video of a prominent Nigerian politician admitting to scandalous behavior. If Amaka refused to do it, the company said they would release a fake video of their own, showing Amaka kissing another man in a nightclub. This could land him in prison and cause even bigger problems between him and his family.

Here’s the key message: By 2041, deepfakes will become so convincing that it will be impossible to spot frauds.

Golden Sparrow’s parents were killed in a car accident when he was just a young boy, and he was sent to an orphanage. The people who looked after him there created a special friend for him, a companion that he called Atoman, after his favorite superhero. To see Atoman, Golden Sparrow needed to wear special glasses with a virtual reality interface. Soon, he wore them all the time. Atoman was a perfect companion because he knew everything about Golden Sparrow; after all, he had access to his data cloud. And a biometric ribbon attached to Golden Sparrow’s wrist provided a constant flow of real-time information about his physiological state as well as his behavior.

Atoman became Golden Sparrow’s best friend, helping him with his homework, answering his questions, and planning adventures for him. But, above all, he talked to Golden Sparrow constantly – an ideal conversation partner for an isolated young boy.

Chen Nan is part of the so-called COVID generation, which grew up in the two decades after COVID-19 broke out and devastated the world. She can’t even remember a time when people weren’t afraid of getting sick. COVID returns every year as a seasonal flu. Everyone has to wear a biosensor membrane on their wrists that transmits their physiological data in real time. Nan has a traumatic memory of her grandparents dying in the first outbreak, and she’s so fearful of getting infected herself that she never leaves her apartment. 

Everything she needs is disinfected and brought to her door by delivery bots. Household bots help her keep things clean. And she works online. So there’s no reason for her to leave – except that she’s completely isolated. How can she form relationships, or fall in love, while being stuck inside?

The seance took place in a dark room with flickering candles and rose petals on the table. Aiko felt excited and scared. An old woman, the medium, began the ceremony. Suddenly the table started shaking violently, and the woman’s voice changed into that of a young man. Aiko knew that it was Hiroshi – her rock-star idol who had died in mysterious circumstances. 

Aiko was participating in an XR – or “extra reality” – game. It allowed her to feel like she was really talking to the man she admired so much. In fact, her XR glasses allowed her to view his ghost, which appeared like an apparition when she least expected it. And the plot line was perfectly tailored to her interests, desires, and fears. The extensive questionnaire she’d filled out on her smartphone made sure of that. 

From his cockpit in the training center, Chamal piloted his vehicle through the streets of Colombo, a city in Sri Lanka. His task? Rescue tourists from a terrorist attack at a famous temple. His vehicle was a self-driving car, but even these can be thrown off by disasters that disrupt the route they’ve been programmed to drive, so he helped guide it to safety. Weaving through plumes of smoke on the way to the temple, he collected carloads of scared, bewildered tourists, piloting them through the chaotic streets to their hotel. He could feel the tremors as gunshots went off in the distance. 

The key message is this: Self-driving cars could revolutionize our transport systems – but getting the technology right isn’t easy.

When Marc’s wife and son died in a California wildfire, he was crazy with grief. But the grief soon turned to rage. The wildfire was the result of climate change, created by a world hell-bent on technological progress at any price. Marc was a physicist, working on a model of a quantum computer. He decided to use his skills and knowledge to shut down the world that had caused him so much pain. 

He created sophisticated drones that could move through the sky like a flock of birds, and directed them to assassinate business leaders and other people contributing to climate change. He also targeted major ports, creating havoc by completely disrupting the oil supply. 

Throngs of workers protested in front of Landmark headquarters, one of the largest construction companies in the United States. The company employed thousands of people – all of whom were about to lose their jobs. The reason? AI workers could do those same jobs faster, and for no money, making the workers redundant. As part of their settlement, they were enrolled at an “employment restoration” company, which promised to retrain them and find them new jobs. But these jobs were often menial, or located far away from their families. AI had displaced them, upending their lives. 

Here’s the key message: Automation is creating an employment crisis.

Victor was a self-made millionaire, but he was bored and depressed. So when he was invited to a mysterious island in Doha, he jumped at the chance for some much-needed adventure. But when he arrived on the island, he had to allow a computer to access all his personal data, and he quickly noticed what it had been used for. His every desire and whim was satisfied before he even asked. A robot waited on him hand and foot. His favorite music played all the time, and his accommodation was decorated with all his favorite things. At first, he was delighted. But soon he was bored again, sick of being pleased all the time. 

The key message is this: AI can optimize your happiness – to an extent.