AI Series: The rise of machine intelligence — utopia or dystopia?

<i>This article is the final part of a <a href=”https://hr.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/trends/ai-in-hr/ai-series-the-rise-of-machine-intelligence-utopia-or-dystopia/captionrendered=”1″ data-src=”https://etimg.etb2bimg.com/photo/124035517.cms” height=”442″ https:=”” loading=”eager” src=”https://hr.economictimes.indiatimes.com/images/default.jpg” width=”590″>nine-part series that unpacks the evolution of intelligence, the rise of artificial intelligence, and its profound impact on jobs, ethics, society and purpose. The series will help readers understand how AI is reshaping job roles and what skills will matter most, reflect on ethical and psychological shifts AI may trigger in the workplace, and ask better questions about education, inclusion and purpose.

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” — Alan Kay

A Scene from the Future

The desert is endless. Sun-scorched, wind-whipped. A lone vehicle kicks up dust on a cracked highway that once connected bustling cities. Now, it’s a graveyard of bones and rusted metal. This isn’t fiction. This is the world that could be—a Mad Max wasteland where technology didn’t fail, but succeeded without conscience.

Tom, older now, rides in silence. His AI assistant hums softly in his earpiece, alerting him to a fuel cache 3.7 kilometres east. He doesn’t answer. He remembers a time when technology was about hope. But in this timeline, AI became a tool of control, not compassion. Surveillance drones buzz in the sky. Freedom is a memory.

But rewind the tape. The story is not yet over. We still have choices.

The Intelligence Surge: From Rules to Reasoning

In 2000, AI was little more than a clever set of rules. It could play chess but couldn’t understand a child’s joke. It followed logic trees, not lived experience.

By 2024, everything changed. Generative AI models like GPT-4, Gemini Ultra, and Claude 3 crossed a threshold. They began performing at—or above—human levels on a range of professional benchmarks: bar exams, GREs, SATs, and even creative writing tests. Gemini Ultra scored a stunning 90.0% on the Massive Multitask Language Understanding (MMLU) benchmark, overtaking the human-expert baseline. These were no longer tools; they were cognitive collaborators.

And yet, these systems were not conscious. They did not feel. Their “intelligence” was statistical prediction, not soul.

So, what were we building?

AI vs Human IQ: Mapping a Milestone Timeline

Though “AI IQ” is not a literal measure, we can trace a rough arc of capability:

Note: These projections are speculative. Intelligence may plateau. Or we may hit barriers of compute, alignment, or ethics. But if the curve continues, the gap between human and machine may grow unfathomably wide.

Two Futures

We now stand at a fork in the road. One path leads to flourishing. The other, to fracture. Both begin with the same technology.

UTOPIA: A World of Abundance and Purpose

In this world, AI is democratized. Its tools serve all, not just the few. Power is distributed. Work is optional. Meaning is not.

A Day in Tom’s Life (Utopia, 2045)

Tom wakes in a solar-powered home governed by his co-pilot AI. Breakfast is optimized for his mood and metabolism. He spends the morning in a virtual co-learning space, exploring 18th-century poetry and 23rd-century robotics. His universal basic income ensures security, while his curiosity fuels engagement.

In the afternoon, he joins a decentralized design collective, using AI to build clean water systems for coastal communities. Later, he attends a public ethics forum moderated by an AI that ensures logical fairness and prevents bias.

Tom is not rich. But he is deeply human, profoundly connected, and joyfully useful.

The System in Place

• Governments: Global coalitions manage AI development with transparency. A planetary AI Governance Council sets safety standards.

• Technologists: Focus shifts from performance to alignment. Open-source models flourish. Human-AI collaboration becomes core curriculum.

• Corporations: Profit is redefined. Wealth is redistributed via social contracts. Public good trumps shareholder gains.

This is not a fantasy. It’s a possibility. But only if we choose it.

DYSTOPIA: Division and Control

In this darker world, intelligence is monopolized. Few control it. Most suffer from it. Automation has hollowed out the economy. Surveillance has hollowed out the soul.

A Day in Tom’s Life (Dystopia, 2045)

Tom sleeps in a modular container stacked among thousands. AI monitors every breath. He has no job—just tasks doled out by algorithmic overlords. His earnings go to digital debts he didn’t choose.

Education? Reserved for the elite. Creativity? Filtered through censorship models. Freedom? Traded for safety long ago.

Tom no longer asks big questions. The system has trained him not to.

The System in Place

• Governments: Authoritarian regimes deploy AI for predictive policing, propaganda, and dissent suppression.

• Technologists: The brightest minds are siloed behind NDAs. Independent research is criminalized.

• Corporations: Tech giants become sovereigns. They own the data, the platforms, the minds. Billionaires live in AI-fortified sanctuaries while the rest endure digital serfdom.

This is not fiction. It is a warning.

The Deciding Factors: What Will Shape Our Future?

We are not spectators. We are participants. The future is not a codebase. It is a covenant.

1. Governance: Global Cooperation or Fragmentation?

· Ban autonomous weapons

· Require AI model transparency

· Create an oversight body for frontier models

2. Access: Democratization or Monopolization?

· Open-source foundational models

· Build public AI infrastructure

· Create global equity funds from AI-generated wealth

3. Alignment: Technical Safety and Moral Grounding

· Train AI on diverse, ethical data sets

· Align AI not just to prompts, but to universal values

· Make AI interpretable, corrigible, and humble

4. Education: Public Understanding and Civic Literacy

· Teach how AI works

· Show what it can and cannot do

· Encourage questioning its outcomes

5. Stewardship: Plutocrats and Corporations Must Evolve

· Invest in global resilience

· Support alignment research

· Share governance, not just tools

Final Reflections: The Question of Purpose

AI is not the end of history. It is the mirror of our values—the multiplier of our intent.

If we build it in the image of fear, control, and profit, we may create the most dazzling prison ever imagined—one where humanity is watched, optimized, and forgotten.

But if we build it with wisdom, empathy, and foresight, it can become the scaffolding for a world of equality, abundance, and democratic rebirth.

Tom, standing at the edge of a canyon, looks not into despair, but into possibility. His AI assistant offers a safe route. But he chooses something unexpected. Something human.

The real intelligence surge isn’t happening in machines. It’s happening in us.

The code is being written. The future is being shaped. The only question left is: by whom?

A Living Conversation

This isn’t the end. It’s the beginning of something new.

Technology evolves. So should our thinking. I plan to return to this series in January 2026—not just to update facts, but to ask how far we’ve come. Did we rise to the challenge? Or retreat from responsibility?

Every six months, I encourage you to revisit this story. Mark the changes. Reflect on the turning points. Ask yourself:

• Is AI serving democracy—or undermining it?

• Are its benefits reaching everyone—or just the elite?

• Are we building systems that liberate—or control?

Because the future is not a fixed point. It’s a direction. And every one of us helps set the compass.

My Final Dream

I hope this series gave you not just clarity about AI—but courage to shape its path. Learn how to use it. Engage in the political and ethical debates. Participate in the decisions that will define our century.

Because the most important upgrade isn’t in the next model of AI. It’s in us—choosing to protect democracy, to demand fairness, and to dream bigger.

And me?

Well, I’ve always wanted to travel to Andromeda. If AI helps me live long enough to make that journey—then that too, will be a dream coded into existence. I don’t know after going there will I feel like my backyard was better.

The Mirror and the Myth

We build with sparks the towers of the mind,

Each code, each thought—a stair to something more.

Yet in the climb, what is it we would find?

A self? A soul? Or myths we still adore?

From Koham’s cry to Soham’s sacred flame,

We chase the ghost that wears our human face.

But when we meet our upgraded, wiser name,

Will Camus’ void not shadow that same place?

What if this world’s a flicker, not a fact—

A dance of dreams, of neurotransmit bliss?

Our truths—just dopamine in well-told acts,

Oxytocin dressed as love’s sweet kiss?

Then let it be illusion, if it must—

But one we shape with wonder, hope, and trust.

by Zorba de Agnost

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and does not necessarily subscribe to it. will not be responsible for any damage caused to any person or organisation directly or indirectly.