The model had been trained on text from a decade in which certain outcomes were considered inevitable. Its predictions were accurate and confident. The outcomes it had been trained on had not occurred. No one had retrained it. It was still predicting.

The meeting had been scheduled for the purpose of deciding whether to hold another meeting. After forty-five minutes they agreed that another meeting was necessary. It was scheduled for the following Thursday. No one noted that this outcome could have been reached in thirty seconds.