You’ve been cancelled!
Scrubbed from existence by AI
- Dateline
- 28 October 2028
Stina Svensson looked at her ID, her passport, the title deed for her house, her latest tax return… all laid out in front of her and, until two months ago, proving who she was, that she was Stina Svensson. But today was not her day: The bank manager couldn’t do anything to help, as she didn’t exist in their system. Her savings were gone, her investments had vanished, her mortgage had disappeared (which at EUR 908,000 outstanding was maybe a good thing) but the fact remained: She didn’t exist.
It all started a couple of months ago when she had made, in her opinion, an innocent comment on a Facebook post. Forty minutes later, her account was frozen because she had violated the code of conduct; but she could appeal. Which of course she did. But 24 hours later, the result came back: Not successful, and her account and profile vanished. As did her Messenger and Instagram accounts.
A few days later, her WhatsApp account wouldn’t work, and when she tried to reinstall the app, it refused her credentials. Her phone stopped working, and her subway card got blocked. Then it escalated faster and faster as the AIs running various systems compared notes. With no social media posts, no WhatsApp messages, no phone calls, and no usage of the subway, they came to the obvious conclusion that Stina Svensson didn’t exist.
The AIs went to work and ensured that the tax register was corrected, birth records were updated, and last night came the final straw when her bank account got deleted.
She had been erased from the digital world by hyper efficient, autonomous and connected AI agents operating on logic, without any human oversight.
Stina Svensson had been cancelled!
Contact us for more
As the line between digital and real life becomes increasingly blurred, will we still exist if our digital fingerprints are completely erased? What opportunities might exist for businesses to safeguard their customers’ digital DNA? For more information on this topic, feel free to reach out to Insights leader Stuart Murray or Mindbullets editor Doug Vining.
Links to related stories
- 'Droidspeak': AI Agents Now Have Their Own Language Thanks to Microsoft | Singularity Hub
- Australia social media ban: Is restricting all under-16s from social apps really the answer? | CNN
- Artificial Intelligence in the Public Sector | World Bank Document
- Justin Bieber's digital demise - Mindbullets (Dateline 1 April 2017)
- I am ether. I am me. - Mindbullets (Dateline 2 July 2025)
Warning: Hazardous thinking at work
Despite appearances to the contrary, Futureworld cannot and does not predict the future. Our Mindbullets scenarios are fictitious and designed purely to explore possible futures, challenge and stimulate strategic thinking. Use these at your own risk. Any reference to actual people, entities or events is entirely allegorical. Copyright Futureworld International Limited. Reproduction or distribution permitted only with recognition of Copyright and the inclusion of this disclaimer.
