Ellie stood at the intersection of two worlds. It was 2054, and she was a bright but somewhat socially awkward teenager navigating the complexities of a future where AI had become as common as the air she breathed.

In this world, classrooms were driven by AI, algorithms predicted career paths, and social interactions were often mediated by augmented reality and machine learning.

Ellie had been selected to attend the prestigious Academy of Cognitive Integration, where human and AI learning merged into a single curriculum.

Here, students didn’t just learn history or science—they learned how to collaborate with AI systems, develop synthetic intelligences, and, perhaps most importantly, understand the ethical ramifications of the technology that surrounded them.

Ellie was fascinated by AI. She marvelled at how these machines could analyse, predict, and even create. The Academy taught her to use AI to amplify her abilities, foresee market shifts, and design complex systems that could change the world.

But despite the wonders AI could achieve, Ellie felt something gnawing at her, much like a distant memory she couldn’t quite grasp—a feeling that something essential was missing.

One day, Ellie was tasked with creating an AI model that predicted societal outcomes based on current global trends.

She input every conceivable variable—economic indicators, climate data, social unrest metrics—yet the model consistently produced results that felt dystopian, devoid of hope.

The numbers painted a bleak future, one where logic prevailed over humanity. Despite the model’s accuracy, Ellie sensed that there was another path, one that the AI couldn’t see. It lacked the ability to hope, to dream, to imagine possibilities

that defied logic.

In a moment of clarity, Ellie recalled an old philosophy lecture she had attended by accident at the Academy—a lecture that spoke of wisdom not as a mere accumulation of knowledge but as the ability to navigate the complexities of life with understanding and moral clarity. She realised that while AI could guide her, it couldn’t lead her.

The Getting of AI was not the Getting of Wisdom.

Determined to find a better solution, Ellie decided to rewrite her model, this time incorporating not just data, but her own human insights. She coded in variables for compassion, resilience, and the unexpected altruism that history had shown humans were capable of, even in the bleakest times.

The new predictions were vastly different—they were balanced, hopeful, and, most importantly, they felt right.

When Ellie presented her work, the response was mixed. Some of her peers, much like the students in the old tales of the past, were quick to judge, calling her approach unscientific, even naïve. But a few, the ones who still understood the value of the human heart, saw the brilliance in her work.

They recognised that Ellie had tapped into something no AI could replicate: the wisdom that came from lived experience, from understanding pain, joy, love, and loss.

In this new era, Ellie stood at the forefront of a movement that redefined the relationship between humans and AI. She became a leader not just because of her technical skills, but because of her ability to see beyond the binary, to find wisdom in the spaces where AI saw only data.

The moral of Ellie’s story is clear: The getting of AI is a powerful tool, one that can reshape the world. But the getting of wisdom—true wisdom—will always be human.

It is the wisdom that guides technology, tempers power with ethics, and reminds us that, in the end, our greatest asset isn’t our ability to calculate, but our ability to care.

As you might have guessed, this is a reimagining of the classic novel The Getting of Wisdom by Henry Handel Richardson, reinterpreted for a futuristic world dominated by AI.

I thought it would be a bit of fun, light reading to get you ready for the weekend by taking some old classics and putting a 2050 AI and tech twist on them to see if they still hold up as stories and have messages for us.

I’d love to hear your thoughts! How do you think classic tales could be reimagined for the future?

Does the essence of the story change, or does it stay true, despite the technological shift?

Drop your comments, and let’s start a conversation.

This story is part of an ongoing reimagined series of past classics rewritten for Future Possibilities under the banner of Timeless Stories, Infinite Futures, subscribe and look out for a new story each Friday afternoon.

Morris Misel is a seasoned business futurist with over 30 years of global experience in forecasting the future, but don’t let that fool you—he’s also got a playful side.

While he usually focuses on the hard facts and strategic foresights that may shape tomorrow, Morris loves to let his imagination run wild from time to time.

What better way to envision the future than by taking a classic piece of literature and giving it a cheeky futurist twist? This isn’t his usual method, but who says forecasting can’t be fun?

Connect with Morris Misel to explore the serious (and not-so-serious) sides of the future.

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