In World 196, the nation-wide lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic led to an increased usage of social media for creative and self-expression. This resulted in the rise of mental health issues faced by the people from the content they consume online. Leaders from all around the world made a collective decision to remove social media platforms permanently. The decline in social media allowed tech companies to focus on further developing softwares like artificial intelligence that centres around aiding humans rather than harming them.
The development of artificial intelligence revolutionised many aspects of society. Companies integrated it into their workspace to complete tasks that were once considered the domain of humans. The results were less overtime working hours and a better work-life balance for humans which improved their mental health significantly. The banning of social media was seen as a turning point in the development of AI, as it freed up resources and redirected attention towards a field that would change the world.
What if …
social media was replaced with the development of Artificial Intelligence?
Issue targeted:
mass production, textile waste
Inspiration:
Black Mirror
This World was contributed by Genevieve Deborah Frances Heng, Lok Ying Yi Chloe, Sim You Geng Eric, Feng yu and Zuaipy Fariqa Santiago (located in Singapore, China and Indonesia) using a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence which allows others to share and adapt the work in any medium and for any purpose, providing that they credit the author and share their material using the same Creative Commons licence.
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