"After the Buffet"

"After the Buffet" is a future-anterior case: a short analytical text written in 2026, from the vantage of 2028, on a transition already underway. It was written for Waiting for the Crash, a workshop at the University of Manchester on 7 July 2026, which invited speculative case studies characterising a 'plausible (if not necessarily likely) outcome' for large language models.

The case's present-tense materials – forum threads, usage-limit promotions, browser extensions – are real, and were documented as of mid-2026. What follows is inferred: the incident around which the case turns, and the later vantage from which it is narrated. Where the join falls is unmarked by design. A note on the form follows the case.