The Belgian start-up AiCandy has launched a mockumentary titled “Energym” that projects an extreme hypothesis for 2036: a scenario in which artificial intelligence has replaced 80% of jobs and the jobless population is dedicated to generating physical energy to power the data centers that sustain the new automated order.
The piece uses AI-aged versions of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Sam Altman, presented as promoters of a fictitious chain of gyms where citizens pedal and lift weights to produce electricity for the servers that left them out of work. The story adopts a documentary tone to reinforce the feeling of plausibility and displays a corporate, almost aspirational aesthetic, in contrast to the dystopian background.
The central approach – “If AI takes away our jobs, can it also take away our calories?” – summarizes the irony of the project: the system converts unemployment into a supposed opportunity for well-being, while reconfiguring technological dependence as mandatory physical exercise.
The satire appears at a time when the employment consequences of AI are no longer speculative. A few days ago Jack Dorsey, CEO of Block, announced a 40% cut in the fintech company’s workforce, arguing for efficiency improvements derived from the adoption of artificial intelligence tools. The move adds to a broader trend in which automation is an operating variable in large-scale corporate decisions.
In recent weeks, statements from senior executives have broadened the focus towards the business leadership itself. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi recently revealed that employees at his company developed a version of “Dara AI” to simulate presentations to him. Although he stated that artificial intelligence cannot yet replicate real-time learning capacity, he admitted that, at a certain point in development, “We are all replaceable.”
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has stated on several occasions that he does not rule out that artificial intelligence could run a large company better than a human executive. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, has suggested that the role of a CEO could become one of the functions most susceptible to automation in the future.
In this context, “Energym” takes the conversation to the extreme: if automation promises efficiency, what happens when efficiency reconfigures the very notion of work and purpose?
AiCandy’s work falls into the tradition of speculative design, which uses future scenarios to question present decisions. The choice of recognizable figures from the technological ecosystem seeks to underline the symbolic weight of those who lead the digital transformation. Thus, the dystopia proposed by “Energym” works as an exaggeration, but is supported by real tensions: increasing energy consumption of data centers, automation of cognitive tasks or business discourse on professional reinvention.
