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Foresight-CHAI

(Co-futuring with ‘Collective Human-Artificial Intelligence’)

“1000 days after ChatGPT’s release, how can AI help to study the future, when it is trained on data from the past??”  We put that question to ChatGPT…  “AI studies the future the same way humans do—by learning from the past and applying those lessons to anticipate, simulate, and prepare. The difference is that AI does it with superhuman speed, scale, and consistency.” (see full response – 1000 days after ChatGPT) – So should we look forward to a human future planned with superhuman speed, scale, and consistency????

Recent world events have confirmed, we are in a time of intense flux & disruption – all the more urgent to find ways to look ahead & build the ‘future-oriented collective intelligence’ (‘FOCI’).

Here we are developing a ‘Foresight-CHAI’ (‘collective human-artificial intelligence’) method and process, via experimentation & international collaboration. This aims to combine the power of AI with the potential for CHI (‘collective human intelligence’), i.e. the capacity for mutual sense-making, synergy, vision and strategic thinking. At the moment we are working with case studies in Manchester, Beijing and Kolkata, as per the Foresight-CHAI – user guide

Next meeting – Foresight-CHAI forum #4

27th April 2026: 12-1400 BST (UK time)  –

Sign-up here 

Meeting includes:

  1. Foresight-CHAI overview
  2. International program – Manchester / Beijing / Kolkata.
  3. ‘Foresight-CHAI toolkit’ outline
  4. App / platform reviews / updates to include:

5. Review & next steps

 

OUTLINE 

Our goal is to enable the CHI (‘collective human intelligence’) – to debate, learn, critique and review for meaning and significance, at each of the 4 stages in the Pathways ‘4S’ toolkit – (‘systems, scenarios, synergies, strategies’).  Each of 4 stages includes leading questions and visual system mapping templates. These can be fed to the AI prompts, and the outputs then reviewed and debated by the humans.

A larger meeting can form group tables of around 4-6 participants, each working on a sub-theme and/or playing a role (e.g. business, scientist, politician, citizen etc). Each table can log on as a system user, providing comments to the online form / whiteboard, and thereby interact with other users. The 4 main stages are framed with leading questions –

  • ‘SYSTEMS’ – what 3 key challenges in this theme & what do they contain?
  • ‘SCENARIOS’ – what 3 key drivers of change & what alternative futures lie ahead?
  • ‘SYNERGIES’ – what 3 visions for transformation & how can we work towards them?
  • ‘STRATEGIES’ – what 3 pathways could achieve them & who can do what & when

For more see the Foresight-CHAI – user guide

RESOURCES

 

RELATED EVENTS

(all times in GMT)

PREVIOUS EVENTS

Foresight-CHAI Forum #3:  26-01-26

Summary notes & visual thinking- https://tinyurl.com/yk6wemsx

Foresight-CHAI Forum #2’:  23rd October 

Program & resources:  slides, working papers, chat notes – https://tinyurl.com/4y86wvn6

‘CO-FUTURING with  CHAI #1’  – 24th July:  

Background on Foresight 3.0 – https://tinyurl.com/5cwjwyaw:   chapter on Technologies-III from the Deeper City book

Foresight-CHAI international collaboration 

The China-UK exchange Foresight-wise CASTED  has so far resulted in a collaboration with Beijing University of Technology: work in progress includes –

SUMMARY OF METHOD

This pilot program explores the potential of ‘Foresight-CHAI’ (‘Collective Human-Artificial Intelligence’). Since 2020, ‘Foresight 3.0’ has been developed to explore the future prospects and pathways, on the principles of ‘collective human intelligence’. 

  • AI now offers powerful new resources and functionalities: it provides foresight-related content, which appears to be very fast and efficient, (along with existential risks);
  • Our focus is then on the CHI or ‘collective human intelligence’ – the social meaning, agenda setting, synergy forming, co-learning, co-creation & co-production into the ‘real world’, all needed for transformational change;
  • the combination of foresight with AI-enabled process, and CHI-focused applications, is explored here as Foresight-CHAI (‘Collective Human-Artificial Intelligence’).

For the human ‘CHI’ side we use an existing process model, the Pathways Toolkit – developed for the goal of enabling ‘collective human intelligence’.

For the AI side we use a menu of leading AI platforms, selected by how far they are relevant and practical for the challenge, and resources available.  See the User Guide v2 for more detail.  

 

Previous meeting: 

FUTURES 4 EUROPE WORKSHOP: 

Building the Future-Oriented Collective Intelligence 

16th May 2025, Vienna

interactive workshop at the Futures4Europe Conference 2025.   This workshop was based on the FOCI principles, and our experience of Foresight 3.0 at the Mind-Lab – Foresight-3-0-Theme/  Foresight 3.0 aims to mobilize the FOCI or ‘collective forward intelligence’:  (a) within the foresight team, and (b) externally in the communities and societies around it. Aiming beyond the typical ‘report on the shelf’, Foresight 3.0 engages with a wider community of interest, deeper layers of meaning, and further horizons of transformation.

Background – special issue on Foresight 3.0 – https://tinyurl.com/5cwjwyaw

A draft workshop report is on FOCI workshop – co-futuring – report JR – v1 – 25-05-25

The University of Manchester