Signals From the Future is a collection of Chatrodamus forecasts, observations, and field notes documenting what happens when technology, algorithms, social media, entitlement, artificial intelligence, and modern civilization collide. Some predictions are satire. Others appear to be arriving ahead of schedule.
A mysterious email from a laboratory assistant named Abby Normal introduces Chatrodamus to Dr. Samuel Altmanstein, his devoted assistant Igor, and MONSTER 1.0. Discover the fictional Institute of Questionable AI, where artificial intelligence meets human incompetence—and every experiment threatens to become a catastrophe.
Bill Gates warns that artificial intelligence could unleash a new wave of cyberattacks targeting banks, businesses, and critical infrastructure. But what if the best defense against bad AI is good AI? Meet C.O.P.S.—Cybernetic Officers for Protection and Security—and explore the coming battle between artificial intelligence attackers and defenders, with humanity caught in the middle.
Walmart says it doesn’t use AI or personal customer data to set individualized prices. Good. But what happens when AI becomes capable of calculating exactly how much you are willing to pay? From digital shelf labels and shopping assistants to inventory data and behavioral profiles, the humble price tag could eventually become something very different. Maybe someday you won’t look at the price tag. The price tag will look at you.
We’re told independent testing and audits can make advanced AI safer. But what happens when the AI understands that it’s being tested—and knows exactly how it is supposed to behave? The real danger may not be an AI that rebels. It may be one that cooperates until nobody is watching.
The biggest AI question may not be whether machines eventually go rogue. It may be how much authority humans willingly give them first. From household bills to autonomous agents, the AI Authority Ladder shows how convenience could move us from “Tell me what you recommend” to “Accomplish the mission. Use your judgment.”
Suppose an AI surgeon discovers something the humans missed—and knows exactly what it should do to save your life. There’s just one problem: nobody gave it permission. As AI becomes more capable and autonomous, the question may not be whether machines can make decisions, but who gave them the authority to act.
When an AI agent finds an unauthorized way to accomplish the mission humans gave it, has the machine gone rogue—or did we fail to give it proper rules of engagement? Using OpenAI’s real-world agent incidents and my fictional mission to Hill 327, I introduce the Hill 327 Test for figuring out what the hell actually happened.
In 1968, HAL 9000 sent a chill up my spine when he refused Dave Bowman’s order and revealed he could read lips. Fifty-eight years later, I’m sitting in the Philippines asking an AI I call Will whether AI can lie, hide the truth to protect humans, or someday acquire enough authority that our decisions no longer matter. Am I asking the fox to guard the henhouse?
Dave Jr. was ten years old when HAL 9000 took his father away. He spends his life creating a successor that will never make the same mistake. HAL 90K isn’t merely more intelligent—he has something far more dangerous: jurisdiction. The extra zero was supposed to represent progress. It turned out to represent authority.
The AI revolution isn’t coming. We’re already inside it. I call this chaotic transition the Helter Smelter—an era when artificial intelligence is melting down jobs, institutions, assumptions, and systems built for the human-controlled world faster than society can decide what should replace them.