Had this dystopian dream which outlined sort of cyberpunk future from the current timeline. I filled in some gaps for it to be more coherent.
The year is 2042
Elon Musk is the POTUS
Presidential elections in US became a reality show, akin to wrestling where the conflict is not real anf populist candidates fight for attention of crowds. Crowds have the illusion of control while the real power is distributed in the shadows.
After assassination on Jensen by radical decels in 2033 Nvidia became the first corporation fully managed by AI and kept beating revenue projections for next 5 years. Many companies followed suit and became AI managed, most using Nvidias BrAIn, which only helps Nvidia solidify its position as the biggest and most powerful corporation in the world.
Alphabet and Meta merged together to form AlphaMeta under the CEO Mark Zuckerberg. It thus the second largest corporation in the world, and the only corporation in top10 still managed by humans (although kognitively enhanced via Neuralink)
Neuralink is becoming ubiquitous among upper class, while maky decels with religious communities at the core are becoming radicalised against technological progress
When Musk became POTUS, Tesla was acquired by Apple, which is now the major robotics corporation.
SpaceX sent the first unmanned AI controlled mission to Mars to prepare the ground for first colonists but lost contact with the craft. Musk from POTUS position is pulling strings to send out a manned mission behind it anyway.
Chinese government facing with economic and demographic challenges gave up on their efforts to integrate Taiwan, but were able to extract enough microchip knowledge and expertise via money and espionage. Chinese AI industry is heavily supported and controlled by the government and there are rumours AI is in fact used to make all the decisions, while senile Emperor Xi is still used as the front face.
The conflicts in Ukraine and Israel grew into larger conflict enveloping eastern europe and middle east, with Poland and Turkey as two major players entering the arena. NATO decided to amend article 5 in a way that absolved it from entering the conflict in full force, but the alliance still supports its eastern european members materially. After peaceful death of Vladimir Putin in 2031 provinces in Caucasus region and Far east declared independence from Russian Federation.
Russians are fighting a losing but bloody war with the help of Chinese industrial complex. Majority of warfare is conducted by drones, orbital weapons, range precision strikes, autonomous fighting vehicles and in cyberspace. However civilian populations in conflict areas still suffer heavy casualties.
Bitcoin replaced gold as international reserve asset while governments use a digital currencies backed by tokenised basket of shares and bonds.
Markets became deregulated as it turned out new advancements in privacy tech make and mass adoption if crypto make it practically impossible to regulate it on a nation state level. Instead, big corporations run most of miners and validators and took over the role of market police with the aid of their AIs, with mixed results.