MISTAKE

MISTAKE

Still laughing

We made it up. Then reality caught up.

What we wrote
8
How close we were
78%
Average lag
4.3 yrs
AI2021 → 2025

What we wrote

We wrote it in 2021

One day the junior developer's main skill could be describing the problem clearly enough for the machine to solve it.

What actually happened

Reality caught up in 2025

AI coding assistants are built into mainstream development tools, and producing code from a plain-language description is now a routine part of professional software work.

Vendor product documentation and developer surveys on assistant adoption.

The joke was the job description. The job description was updated.

How close we were88%
Society2021 → 2025

What we wrote

We wrote it in 2021

By 2035 the wait for a therapist could be so long that people just tell the chatbot instead — and the chatbot could start charging for the hour.

What actually happened

Reality caught up in 2025

Large numbers of people use general-purpose chatbots for emotional support and advice, and professional bodies and regulators have begun issuing guidance and warnings about the practice.

Professional-body guidance, regulator statements and platform usage reporting.

We wrote it as a shortage. It arrived as a habit.

How close we were61%
Culture2022 → 2025

What we wrote

We wrote it in 2022

Someday a streaming service could fill its own playlists with songs by artists who do not exist, and nobody could notice for a full quarter.

What actually happened

Reality caught up in 2025

Fully AI-generated tracks circulate on major streaming platforms, and services have introduced labelling and disclosure rules for them.

Streaming-platform policy updates and music-industry body statements on AI-generated recordings.

The audience did not revolt. The audience made a playlist.

How close we were71%
Tech2019 → 2024

What we wrote

We wrote it in 2019

By 2030 your taxi could arrive with nobody in the driver's seat — and nobody to argue with about the route.

What actually happened

Reality caught up in 2024

Autonomous taxi services now carry paying passengers on public roads in several cities, hailed from an ordinary phone app.

City and state transport-authority permits, plus operators' public service announcements.

We gave the idea eleven years. It took five.

How close we were92%
Culture2020 → 2024

What we wrote

We wrote it in 2020

Someday an actor could sign away their voice for a flat fee, then hear it in a commercial they never recorded.

What actually happened

Reality caught up in 2024

Voice cloning from short samples is widely available, and performers' unions have negotiated contract terms covering digital replicas of voices and likenesses.

Published union agreements and the digital-replica provisions in performers' collective bargaining.

The punchline is now a clause.

How close we were84%
Work2019 → 2024

What we wrote

We wrote it in 2019

In a few years your shift roster could be set by a system with no manager attached, and appealing it could mean arguing with a notification.

What actually happened

Reality caught up in 2024

Scheduling and performance software assigns shifts and tasks across retail, logistics and platform work, and several jurisdictions have passed rules on algorithmic management and what workers must be told about it.

Labour-law texts on algorithmic management, alongside workforce-software product descriptions.

We aimed for absurd. We landed on a compliance requirement.

How close we were95%
Lifestyle2020 → 2024

What we wrote

We wrote it in 2020

By the 2030s the pavement could belong to small wheeled boxes, and the polite thing to do could be to step aside for them.

What actually happened

Reality caught up in 2024

Sidewalk delivery robots operate on public pavements in a number of cities and campuses, and commercial drone delivery runs in selected areas under aviation-authority approvals.

Municipal ordinances on sidewalk robots and civil-aviation authority delivery approvals.

Still a pilot in most places. No longer a joke in any of them.

How close we were55%
Science2019 → 2024

What we wrote

We wrote it in 2019

One day the second opinion on your scan could arrive before the first — from something that holds no opinions at all.

What actually happened

Reality caught up in 2024

Regulators have cleared a large number of AI tools for medical imaging, and many are in routine hospital use as an aid to radiologists rather than a replacement for them.

National medical-device regulators' clearance lists and hospital deployment reports.

It reads the scan. It still does not sign the report.

How close we were78%
SATIRE

This story is satire: it describes a hypothetical future, not a real event.

MISTAKE

TOMORROW, DELIVERED TODAY.

One email a week. The future, before it files a press release.

Worst case: you laugh. Best case: we predicted the future.