Fool's Vision for 2036: AI Boom, Shoppable Social Media, and Password-Free Future

Looking ahead to 2036, Brian Richards of The Motley Fool's Rule Breakers team has made ten predictions about what the world might look like in a decade. He based his predictions on current trends and the pace of change.

The first prediction is that the stock market will return around 10% per year from 2026 to 2036, thanks to an AI productivity boom. This would be in line with its long-run average. The five largest companies in the world are expected to be Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Anthropic.

Richards also predicts that every image on social media will be shoppable by 2036, and that agents will know what humans want before they do. This would lead to a cut for the agents from idea to purchase.

He also expects the first AI-caused personal bankruptcy to make national news, and 'agent discretion limits' to become a standard field in every brokerage onboarding flow. U.S. stocks are expected to trade 24/7/365 by 2031, with the last closing bell being sold at an auction.

Other predictions include more than 80% of web pages being authored by AI, and the extinction of passwords due to quantum computing. OpenAI is also predicted to move from talk to tasks, with its DevDay signaling a new phase in the AI race.