Co-futuring & Foresight-CHAI

FOLLOW UP WORKSHOP – ‘CO-FUTURING with CHAI’ (‘collective human-artificial intelligence’)

24th July 12-1400 BST (informal continues to 1430):

Link to join https://zoom.us/my/synergistics (The meeting will be recorded.)

Sign up here (if not already)

Program: Co-futuring with CHAI workshop – program for 24-07-25

…AI-enhanced foresight is fast & powerful – but will it displace the vital CHI (‘collective human intelligence’)??

‘Co-futuring with CHAI’ explores the risks and potentials, with demos & reviews of 5 state of the art AI-enabled platforms:

Workshop aims: review & compare alternative AI-based platforms with practical demos on foresight applications: set out ways forward. Overall this agenda is essential for those working at the frontiers of futures & foresight / circular economy / systems transformation / ‘collective human-artificial intelligence’ (CHAI)

Platforms include:

Pre-empt: https://www.preempt.life/
Next Atlas: https://www.nextatlas.com/foresight/why
4Strat: https://www.4strat.com/
4CF Sprawlr: https://4cf.eu/sprawlr/
(Algorithm: https://thealgorithm.me/ )

User platforms include

The Futures Toolkit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/futures-toolkit-for-policy-makers-and-analysts
(Futures Diamond: https://www.futuresdiamond.com/

Overall – this is not an interview or formal evaluation of any system / platform – we aim to compare & learn, with a special focus on the interface of AI with CHI. All this then points to a follow up program, more focused on the AI ‘promises and perils’ question, on the general lines –

AI can provide foresight-related content, seems very fast & efficient
Our focus is then on the context – the CHI or ‘collective human intelligence’ – how does foresight enable the social mutual learning, insight, co-creation & co-production, all needed for transformational change
the combination of AI with CHI is explored in this Mind-lab as Foresight-CHAI (Collective Human-Artificial Intelligence

Materials

Working paper – Mind-Lab WP – Co-futuring-CHAI – JR – v3 – 24-07-25

Comment – https://www.samiconsulting.co.uk/post/beyond-scenarios-five-ways-ai-is-reshaping-strategic- foresight Wensupu “Wen” Yang, SAMI Associate and Founder, KWiM Tech

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

Background – chapter on Technologies-III from the Deeper City book

FUTURES 4 EUROPE WORKSHOP

16th May 2025, Vienna

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.

Workshop aims – ‘demonstrate by doing’ new methods & tools for FOCI – mapping the applications of FOCI – within the foresight team / the wider community

Overview – the workshop was a brief but positive demo & test of the FOCI principles & practices

For some it was challenging to very quickly apply very new ideas – but –
For a rapid 1.5 hour demo, the results were huge – both in content & insight
The methods for ‘idea mapping’ and ‘knowledge mapping’ of participants, were also the topic of experimentation

Resources:

Shared workspace – https://tinyurl.com/2pt9zku6
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