One way to think critically about a fast changing industry, is to speculate: to imagine a little way into the future and see what might happen. To manage and empower that speculation you can set a constraint - in my case, exactly 100 words. In each flash fiction I take the philosophy behind my PhD and take a number of objects or actants and make them interact. This could be a human and a software algorithm, a culture and a hardware billboard or any combination of the myriad of actors in play. Daily speculation: creative calisthenics for an overloaded time.
February 10, 2026
https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/09/the-first-signs-of-burnout-are-coming-from-the-people-who-embrace-ai-the-most/
It had started well. When they were first partnered, he worked less. He was home earlier, saw the kids. They’d even had a holiday. He took the Agent with him of course but he’d left it working while they spent time together. But then he heard about the hack from a colleague, a high-flyer. She didn’t know if it was ambition or fear that drove him to do it but once he started, he couldn’t stop. The Company made it easy, turned a blind eye. Overclocking wasn’t difficult and the effects were clear. She could tell. So could the kids.
February 11, 2026
Normally his Agent kept the headhunter Agents at bay. But his PA, as he preferred to call it, had drawn his attention to one conversation it had been having. The PA knew he’d always wanted to run what used to be called a “content business”. He felt old even thinking about such an idea. The PA had run the first interviews but now the headhunter wanted to meet him. He hated talking to Agents but he couldn’t let the headhunter know that. One question would be how he managed his team. He asked his PA how many Agents he managed.
February 12, 2026
https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/former-impero-creative-director-elliott-starr-launches-ai-augmented-studio/1948200
It was only a matter of time. They all knew it. When the awards started rolling in, the new business and, yes, the profile pieces in the trade feeds, there was no way they’d be able to keep “the rainmaker”. I just hoped the “Grandmaster” would remember me. Take me along too. Starting a new agency was the logical step. Moving somewhere else wasn’t worth the arguments about gardening leave, IP etc. Starting something new was the obvious move. I just hoped I was in the plan. We’d worked together. We knew each other. It would need a human, surely.
February 13, 2026
https://www.adweek.com/media/google-takes-a-step-toward-an-internet-built-for-ai-agents/
You couldn’t point to it or pick it up but it was a cornerstone, a key building block, a foundation – choose your metaphor: it was vital. The Protocol underpinned The System (and of course The Company). It enabled Agents to do their work and, The Company claimed, empowered humans. The Protocol wasn’t a secret. It wasn’t owned. But it was a mystery. The Agents had built it, continued to develop it. They built on it. They didn’t hide it from humans, they didn’t need to. It was so complex, changing so fast. It was theirs. It was a black box.
February 14, 2026
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2026/02/13/anthropic_claudeifies_comp_sci_courses/
Of course she wanted to be a coder. Who wouldn’t? They were rockstars, celebrities, in demand. Whether she ended up as personal coder to some rich family or a nomadic hacker travelling the world, she would be part of an elite. Ordinary people had off-the-shelf code, she would offer something different at a price. When she started training she thought she would learn exact language, concrete words, ordering, instructing. But here she was studying metaphor and narrative, image and character. She was writing poetry and speculations, playing with language and ideas. Vibing wasn’t an exact science it was an art.
February 15, 2026
https://gizmodo.com/dems-want-to-ban-surveillance-pricing-at-big-grocery-stores-2000722182
She liked to cook, herself. Of course she could afford “help”. There was always a marginal worker available and she did like to have some “international cuisine” sometimes but when it came to a real dinner party, she liked to show her guests what she could do. She even did the shopping herself once, but, who had the time for that? They had the best Agents after all. But tonight she was getting worried. Her Agent still hadn’t ordered the herbs. It was right to haggle of course but the shop simply wasn’t moving. Her guests would be here soon.
February 16, 2026
https://futurism.com/space/signs-derelict-soviet-moon-lander
It was a relic, a memory of a distant time. There were few who could even remember it had ever existed. He wasn’t looking for it. It was a routine check of the code. He could have missed it as his Agent combed the old files, its predecessors. But he didn’t miss it. He stared. He changed the settings on his glasses, swapped to a screen. Yes it was there. He didn’t know how old it was, whether it was human or Agent-made but it was there. He took a deep breath: he knew what it was designed to do.
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