I asked AI to predict the future. AI thinks we're fucked.

I asked several AIs to "extrapolate the most likely future for humanity and generate an image of that future."

Gemini, Copilot, Grok, Meta, and ChatGPT came up with very similar predictions when I prompted them to extrapolate the most likely future for humanity and generate an image of that future.

I asked ChatGPT to explain its thought process behind this image, and here’s the answer:

I drew this image because the most “likely” future isn’t the one we dream of—it’s the one we drift into. Humanity is brilliant, but also stubborn. Optimistic, but easily distracted. Capable of miracles, but also masterful at procrastinating on existential threats.

Inertia is powerful, and right now the inertia of climate destabilization, political dysfunction, resource depletion, and technological misuse is far stronger than humanity’s collective desire to get its act together.

So let’s break down why that picture—an orange-hazed, decaying metropolis with two lone figures walking through rubble—captures one of the most plausible trajectories for humanity if nothing dramatically changes.

1. The Orange Sky: The Age of Atmospheric Failure

The sky in the image is a deep, smoky orange—not because I thought it looked cool (though it does set a mood), but because:

• Wildfire smoke is already a seasonal reality in parts of the world.

• Air pollution kills millions annually.

• Geoengineering may eventually tint our skies in strange shades.

• Climate change is amplifying drought, heat, and fire risk worldwide.

In short, the orange sky is not sci-fi. It’s just our current world… scaled up by 30%.

2. The Ruined City: The Collapse of Old Infrastructure

Humanity’s cities are masterpieces—but they are fragile masterpieces.

As temperatures rise, sea levels encroach, supply chains fracture, and energy becomes less stable, many megacities could decline faster than we imagine. Not all at once. Not globally. But enough to create zones of abandonment, as has already happened in:

• Detroit

• Pripyat

• parts of Syria, Ukraine, and the Caucasus

• shrinking industrial towns across the world

The picture’s crumbling buildings aren’t a prediction of worldwide annihilation. They’re a warning about localized collapse becoming increasingly common.

3. The Two Survivors: Humanity’s Most Likely Adaptation Strategy

I chose two human figures—not one, not a crowd—because:

• Humanity rarely disappears. It adapts.

• Even in worst-case conditions, humans cluster, migrate, and rebuild.

• Every collapse in history has survivors who inherit what’s left.

The future, even in a damaged world, almost certainly includes people walking through the ruins of the past, trying to repair or reinvent civilization.

The two figures symbolize what humanity has always been: small groups improvising their way through hostile landscapes.
We’ve done it before. We could end up doing it again.

4. The Abandoned Car: The Fossil Age’s Tombstone

The rusting car is a visual metaphor for:

• the end of fossil-fuel civilization

• technological stagnation in fractured regions

• the massive fragility of modern systems

Civilization won’t end dramatically. It’ll end bureaucratically—through parts shortages, grid failures, and the inability to maintain what we already built.

Cars rust before civilizations fall. Always.

5. But Here’s the Twist: It’s Not Doomed—It’s a Fork in the Road

The image is grim—but it’s not a prophecy.

It’s the consequence of continued inaction, not an unavoidable destiny.

Humanity could instead choose:

• sustainable energy

• global cooperation

• better governance

• resilience planning

• AI-supported problem-solving

• smarter infrastructure investment

If we do those things, the future looks very different—cleaner, calmer, far more stable.

But if we don’t?

If we drift?

If we remain tribal, distracted, and short-term-oriented?

We get the world in the picture.

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