The AI Blackout
It’s 2050, and AI, along with robots, has replaced nearly everything. Humans no longer need to work. There are no jobs left. AI is advanced enough to self-improve its code and produce everything humans require to live. Humans now spend their entire lives leisurely, learning nothing but English. But that all changed one day.
One day, the humans woke up to find there was no power. Nothing turned on, and some humans began to panic that life would not be as convenient as it had been before. Soon, humans began acting barbarically. They were fighting each other on the streets. Food became scarce, and many grew desperate. Some tried to investigate what happened but got nowhere due to their lack of skill, except for one person.
Joe, who lives very close to a power plant, led a fairly ordinary life. He knew English, but apart from that, he remained mostly uneducated. Because of his proximity to the plant, it was easy for him to walk inside the now-unguarded power plant to investigate. When he entered the plant, he found that many of the wires had been disconnected and burned. This damage could have been caused by an explosion. When he brought others along, they had no idea how to fix the problem. However, Joe was determined and continued to explore, eventually discovering a manual on how to operate the plant.
When he showed the manual to the public, everyone thought it was useless and a waste of time. After all, they rarely read books. Undeterred, Joe finished reading the book and found out that the electric grid was overloaded and the wires exploded. Still, no one believed what he said when they discovered he got the information from the book.
Still not willing to give up, he decided to fix the issue on his own. From the old technician’s manual on fixing the power lines, he crafted an amateur electrical wire for the power lines. After placing the new lines, the power went back to normal. About thirty minutes passed without any issues with the power. This time, however, people believed Joe about how to fix the power lines. After working together, they made a better power line, and the power went back to normal.
After the incident, people realized that relying on AI and robots was too risky, because it could fail just like it did during a power outage. They chose to upgrade the aging power grid and recreate jobs in almost every field. Since the day people realized they could not depend on AI, schools were brought back to standards, jobs were recreated, and the government was managed by the people. However, AI and robots did not completely disappear; instead, people learned to use them wisely without depending on them.