Apr 25, 2026 Apr 25, 2026 2026-04-25

I know, making AI predictions is the most slippery slope you can engage in – been there, done that. Still. I think it’s a very useful exercise. It forces you to stay aware and awake – and give a sense a preparedness, even though we never really know what’s coming next.

So, without further ado:

1. Instant Translation Reshaping Political Order

Instant translation is quietly evolving, shadowed by the more spectacular AI coding niche. While power users are jumping on the next Claude or OpenAi feature, translation models are becoming extremely powerful. I think in the next 1-2 years, instant translation devices with high accuracy will be massively available.

One of the consequences of this will be, surprisingly, a more cohesive political order in places where language diversity and bureaucracy are creating a lot of friction today. One of these places is Europe, famous for its regulatory landscape and very diverse language map. With instant translation, all these bureaucratic procedures will have less friction, and will allow more flexibility. From a weak and ossified alliance, Europe may become a true federation. Same about Africa.

2. Migration Will Become a Way of Life

Closely coupled with the above, migration will become a way of life. Traveling for better living conditions will be a necessity, not a luxury and it will propagate from less fortunate social layers to middle class. We may see different kind of “brain” migrations, “labor” migrations, and even religious movements with a much higher frequency and intensity.

Given this pressure, migration will be controlled economically – control over travel prices or blitz regional wars – rather than politically. What we now take for granted will become tighter and tighter. Human movements will accelerate and increase in intensity, taking advantage of the tiniest economical opportunities.

3. Country Model Giving Way to Subscription-Based Citizenship

Since the political control will weaken, countries, as we know them, will become less powerful, giving way to new structures. We may see various new structures, very close to what Snow Crash predicted: franchluates, burbclaves, narcotribes (heavily controlled by AI supported metaverses) or mobile states (the Raft).

Citizenship will become more of a membership with subscriptions to Universal Basic Income and medical services.

4. World Models Will Mature, Making Room for Ubiquitous Industry and Home Robots

Robots will be as ubiquitous as cars are now, everybody will have one. Of course, a new industry – robots manufacturing – will emerge, but it will probably not create too many jobs: robots will build robots. But having these new types of physical, semi-intelligent artifacts around us will change the way we interact, as humans.

Hard to predict what exactly this will be, but it seems it will be something very different from what we’re doing today.

5. Space Data Centers Will Surpass Earth Compute Power

Satellites and Moon based data centers will become prevalent and will surpass Earth compute, shifting power from the current elites to the ones that will control space travel. The initial hurdles of building and moving data centers in space will be significant, but solvable. Those who already are building spacecraft at industrial scale (SpaceX, Blue Origin) will be the first beneficiaries of this. Solar energy in space is virtually unlimited.

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These are just thoughts. None of them may actually come true, or they may be in a slightly different form or capacity, but still, I think this is an interesting exercise to do every once in a while.