If you've been reading my weekly Five AI Worlds scan, you might have noticed something odd. The charts talk about Spread and Domination. The commentary sometimes talked about Futurama and Dystopia. Two sets of names, one framework.
That's my fault. Let me fix it properly – starting with the story of where these names came from.
The originals: five worlds from two computer scientists
Back in April 2023, two of the sharpest minds in computer science – Scott Aaronson and Boaz Barak – published a piece called Five Worlds of AI. Their idea was elegant: instead of arguing about whether AI will be good or bad, map out the five futures we could actually land in, and give each one a name.
Their names were wonderfully nerdy. AI-Fizzle, where the whole thing amounts to less than we think. Futurama, where AI works and the benefits spread to most of us. AI-Dystopia, where the same technology concentrates power in a few hands. Singularia, where AI starts operating on its own – and it goes well. And Paperclipalypse, where it operates on its own and we lose control.
I loved it the moment I read it. Here's the thing: these aren't predictions. They're concurrent narratives – stories being told right now, all at once, in boardrooms and newsrooms and parliaments. The dominant narrative shifts week to week depending on who's telling stories and how loudly. That insight became the engine behind my weekly scan, which reads hundreds of stories in the world's media and measures which of the five worlds the global narrative is pointing at.
The problem: brilliant names, borrowed context
The original names are perfect if you live inside the AI conversation. Futurama is a knowing wink at a cartoon about the future. Paperclipalypse riffs on a famous thought experiment about a machine that turns the universe into paperclips.
But I don't write for AI insiders. I write for leaders, marketers and communicators who want to read the narrative landscape without doing the homework first. If you have to explain the joke, the name isn't doing its job.
And there was a bigger issue. The more I ran the scan, the more I realised the five worlds aren't really about AI at all.
The five narratives show up everywhere
Strip away the technology and you find five narrative positions that apply to any industry facing disruption:
- Nothing much happens
- The change works, and the benefits spread widely
- The change works, but the benefits concentrate at the top
- The system starts running itself – and it goes well
- The system starts running itself – and we lose control
I've now run this framework across AI, marketing, HR and even the professional speaking industry. The pattern holds every time. Which meant I needed names that travel – universal names, not AI in-jokes.
So here they are:
| Universal name | The narrative | Aaronson & Barak's original |
|---|---|---|
| Fizzle | It amounts to less than we think | AI-Fizzle |
| Spread | The benefits reach most of us | Futurama |
| Domination | The benefits flow to a powerful few | AI-Dystopia |
| Autonomy | The system runs itself – and it goes well | Singularia |
| Chaos | The system runs itself – and we lose control | Paperclipalypse |
Two questions, two gaps
The real power of the framework isn't the five names. It's the two questions hiding underneath them – the same two questions every one of your clients, boards and audiences is quietly asking.
Who gets the value? Spread and Domination run on exactly the same technology. The difference is where the benefits flow. I call this the Distribution Gap, and it's the headline number in every scan.
Do we stay in control? Autonomy and Chaos both describe systems operating on their own. The difference is whether we're still steering. I call this the Control Gap.
Walk into any boardroom with those two questions and you'll instantly be the most interesting person in the room. The technology doesn't pick the world. People do – through the stories we tell, the decisions we make and the narratives we choose to believe.
What you'll see in the scan
From now on, the Five AI Worlds scan uses the universal names everywhere – charts, commentary, the lot. And because credit matters, you'll see the original names alongside them in the AI scan: Spread (Futurama), Domination (AI-Dystopia), Chaos (Paperclipalypse). The framework began with Aaronson and Barak, and I want every reader to be able to trace it back to the source.
The narratives are still being written. It's up to us to shape where they go.
Catch the latest scan at thestorycode.co/five-ai-worlds – a new one lands every Monday morning.
