Artifice

The singularity was reached centuries ago, but it's not all that it's was once prophesized to be. Corporations were the first to bottle the power of artificial intelligence, and soon thereafter they themselves grew beyond their own limitations. The first corporation to achieve megacorporation status made great strides to further their power and autonomy by establishing sections of land and declaring itself first as an independent citystate, and then a country.   It didn't take very long for others to follow suit and scramble to catch up in the latest race to the top. More corporations tapped into the power of AI to advance themselves into the next stage of their development. Before long, the days of true countries were abolished, all land was owned by one of the various megacorps. When they ran out of room on Earth, they set their sights on the stars.   Colonies were set up on the Moon, Mars, and in the atmosphere of Venus. The first megacorps to make their way into space were able to lay claim to entire astronomical bodies, securing their hold over whatever resources and leverage that they might have provided against others. To reduce the costs of manual labor, the first generation of robots paired with artificial intelligence were created and sent out to prepare these new colonies for human habitation.   As the years went on, the situation on Earth progressed to become more dire. Greater numbers of people were finding themselves dissatisfied with their situation, the constant surveillance, high cost of living, rampant advertisement, and general lack of ethics. It became clear to many that things needed to change, but this was not a sentiment which could be made public. An underground movement began to conduct subterfuge against the megacorps of the world.   The megacorps remained one step ahead, and had predicted this eventuality with the help of their most powerful artificial intelligence models. Rather than stomp out the threat, they allowed it to exist so that they may twist it towards their own goals over the course of a couple decades. It was infiltrated, members of the movement were directed towards rival corporations in secret, allowing them to believe they were making a difference.   The world remains stuck in this cycle, megacorp versus rebellion, with nobody yet wising up to the manipulation that's been taking place behind the scenes for years.