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Shopping centres have long operated on a simple assumption: build attractive spaces, lease to strong brands, and footfall will follow. Will this work in an autonomous world?

The launch of ChatGPT's Instant Checkout paves the way for digital shopping assistants and AI-first customer journeys

Scroll now, and feeds are crowded with suggested posts, paid placements, affiliate links, branded “creators” and algorithmic noise. You’re no longer browsing a social space – you’re wading through a marketplace engineered to keep you receptive, reactive, exposed, and farmed for attention.

Without structure, income, identity, or purpose, free time becomes a void – not a luxury. Debates are currently centred around automation and employment; focussing on which industries and roles will soon become extinct – yet we are failing to consider existential drift: the paradox of a future where people have more hours and less meaning. 

Frictionless, futuristic, and perhaps inevitable, it begs the primal questions of submission and compliance; when access to your job depends on surrendering your biometric data, where do we draw the line between technological advancement and ownership?