Does the future still need futurists in times of ChatGPT & Co?

The following blog post is based on my morning address at the APF's 20th anniversary celebration in Dubai.

Last month during the APF’s 20th anniversary celebration in Dubai, we started the discussion on the future of the APF. The discussion gave me a lot of food for thought, and I wondered what the future of futurists is and whether the future needs us at all.

In times of General AI and Chat GPT, we may soon be redundant. There is a machine that can explore trends and analyse patterns, write scenarios and even create the visuals or futures image in less than two seconds. So what can we do better than most machines?

I think it's about asking the right questions. I see myself as a futurist who doesn't give answers and definitely no predictions about the future. I see my role as facilitating complex conversations about the future and empowering others to think the unthinkable and challenge their status quo, current biases and assumptions about the past, present and future.

I see our role as futurists as taking responsibility for creating more positive futures. The Polak game shows us that we futurists have different opinions and views about the future, but here is why we have to force ourselves to create more positive images.

Both science fiction and the daily news flood our brain cells with bad news and negative prospects for the future. And only monitoring today's signals and trends seem to lead to a doomed world. Therefore, in addition to exploring from the present, We need to take a leap into the future and think about the world we want to live in and shape, and align our daily choices to pathways that lead towards better futures.

Our brains are already full of negative images of the future, so they filter our current perceptions of the world and signals towards these negative trends. Hence, we are more likely to make choices that even encourage these negative futures. However, when we reset our filters by balancing these negative images of the future with positive ones, we begin to see those transformational seeds in the now that we need to nurture in order to create better futures. When we imagine what is not yet imagined and force ourselves to design for  positive futures, we shift our focus to these pockets of hope.

To create these positive images, we need to broaden our own perspectives, tools and methods and adopt new ways from the fields of art, design, gaming and ancient wisdom. We need to be open and curious to explore and imagine a desirable world, a world we all want to live in. And it is our responsibility as futurists to empower organisations around the world to do the same. That they take responsibility for their daily actions and build their decisions on paths that lead to better, positive futures for all, for people, animals and the planet.

That is why we have to constantly challenge ourselves, reinvent our practice and listen to voices that have not yet been heard and stories that have not been told. And, It is about acknowledging that the future is female, which does not mean that there is no place for men. The future is female, instead, recognises that for centuries the world has been ruled by male power with male energy and male-driven decisions and strict hierarchies. Female energy is decentralised, fluid and nurturing, creating a safe space for all to flourish, including men. What we need are men who see the need for change and support the progression of female energy for the future, as there is both male and female energy in each of us.

Because being a good futurist is not about predicting the future, it is about the ability and empowerment of others to deal with and endure uncertainty while still making good decisions for better futures. It's about being comfortable in an uncertain space. My favourite metaphor to close with is that our work is about being dancers who learn how to move with the uncertainty of the future and still lead the way. To be a futurist is to know the steps of a dance or the methods for multiple futures. Though, by only applying the steps, we cannot feel the rhythm of the music; we cannot dance. So we have to get a feel for the music or, in our case, the future. We have to identify its patterns and improvise while still taking the lead and guide our dance partner towards a direction we want, our preferred future.

So being a futurist is like dancing to unknown music and this is how I also want to set the tone for today and for all of those who know how much I love to dance - I want to ask you all - shall we dance? And I hope the answer is - hell yeah!