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AI: The Coworker We Never Knew We Couldn't Live Without

AI: The Coworker We Never Knew We Couldn’t Live Without

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In our rapidly evolving world, artificial intelligence (AI) is set to revolutionize the workplace. A report by TCS offers hope and an exciting vision of AI integration into our work lives, consulting with futurist Liselotte Lyngsø and other experts.

Visions for the Future of Work

Futurist Liselotte Lyngsø predicts that AI will greatly benefit jobs in journalism, marketing, sales, and teaching. AI’s hyper-intelligence will merge diverse skills, enhancing communication and effectiveness in these professions.

Beyond these sectors, Liselotte envisions a future of work featuring innovative hybrid models. AI could enable new collaborative methods, such as thought hackathons, enhancing problem-solving and driving innovation. We might even have AI “bodyguards” providing real-time warnings, support, encouragement, connectivity, security, and actionable advice. With these thrilling advancements on the horizon, who knows what other electrifying surprises the future holds? Buckle up; the adventure is just beginning!

Should We Fear for Our Jobs and Security?

The “Working Towards the Future” report merges forward-thinking ideas with insights from global futurists and industry leaders. Despite some concerns, the survey reveals that 90% of respondents view “GenAI” positively, with nearly half feeling extremely optimistic.

Many believe that entry-level jobs will undergo complete transformation. While 90% anticipate significant changes in these roles, 10% think they might vanish altogether. However, the emergence of new jobs is also expected. A key point of debate is the ownership of AI coworkers: 60% believe companies should own them, while 40% support the concept of “Bring Your Own AI (BYOAI).” 

Imagine having your own personal AI clone, handling all the mundane tasks so you can dedicate your time to creative pursuits and the things you love most. The future is not just about efficiency but also about enriching our lives in ways we’ve only ever dreamed of.

Envisioning a Brighter Worklife

The report highlights a future workplace poised for substantial improvements with AI. We may see shorter work weeks, flexible career paths, and better opportunities for inter-industry mobility. Most respondents (75%) believe that AI will level the playing field, aiding small businesses in expanding their reach and customer base. The biggest challenge might be recognizing that coworkers will need to be treated differently to maximize their potential, fostering individual development.

As we transition into hyperintelligent societies, the “Working Towards the Future” report provides valuable insights, guiding both organizations and individuals to embrace the evolving world of work. AI has the potential to transform our work environments, paving the way for a future where innovation, re-humanization, and teamwork thrive. Expect exciting opportunities ahead as we shape a future where AI not only complements human effort but also unlocks unprecedented potential for innovation and growth.

Discover the full extent of AI’s transformative potential and its implications for the future of work by reading the complete report by TCS. You can also gain deeper insights into Liselotte Lyngsø’s work on the future of AI here.

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Working together apart - will you be a time owner or a time slave?

Working together apart – will you be a time owner or a time slave?

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If you had the opportunity to work anywhere you’d like. Where would it be? Would you stay in bed, go to a café, pick a co-working space together with like-minded neighbors – stay in your regular office? What kind of atmosphere works best for YOU? Maybe its situation-based, maybe it’s a specific version – freedom is being able to design the optimal work-life for your needs. And according to Forbes, flexible working spaces will be the main competitive force for recruiting talents in the years to come.

People are different. Some require complete silence and square walls to get a job done. Some find, that their creative sense is reinforced when sitting in lively surroundings or when they listen to music.

Once upon a time, the office was at the heart of our work. When we went in, it was time for work. When we got out again, we were free. Today, our view of when, where and how we work is much different. From having everyone work in set places and hours, more and more people strive to design their work lives, to their needs. Because why not? Unfortunately, not everyone is able to do that. The hierarchy of the future will be the battle between time-owners and time-slaves. Who decides when and where to meet? You or your colleagues – or do you take turns?

Joes & Cos is a business that catches this trend by broadening the workspace options. Just like a fitness club, they provide free access to various work-place environments so that you can navigate amongst the many options that are popping up everywhere. That way you can combine your office with being a “work-life” tourist experimenting with new ways of working and meeting up with people at locations that are easy to access.  One day your office can be by the waterfront. The next day, it can be in the very city center.

Together with Joes and Cos, Liselotte Lyngsø, Future Navigator talked about the future of work and how she gets her job done.

Keep your employers by setting them free!

«Your first and most important board meeting should be with yourself. Are you happy? Are you giving yourself enough credit? »

-Liselotte Lyngsø

We will get older and older and we will work more. Therefore, it’s extremely important that we are happy with what we do and where and when we do it! In the future, we’ll go from everyone having to sit in an office all day to letting people tailor their own work life so that it fits their needs completely. This is why coworking spaces are booming right now all over the world! People have found out that they’re not forced to sit in their offices anymore. With digitalization and mobile technology, they can pretty much work from everywhere.

So, leaders of the future: take note! People won’t tolerate to have their workspace decided for them. In order to keep your employees happy, you will have to set them free. Let them be creative, where and how they want.

«In the future more and more people have to design their own work life. That’s really scary, because you’re always double scared of what you’re going to lose, rather than what you’re going to gain. But don’t worry – try to enjoy the journey instead » 

-Liselotte Lyngsø

READ ALSO: “The future of the workplace” with Liselotte Lyngsø.

Watch the short video with Liselotte Lyngsø about working outside the office right here.

If you want to read more about the future worklife, you might also find this article with Liselotte Lyngsø interesting.

MASTER THE ART OF TRENDSPOTTING
AND HOST YOUR OWN TREND MAPPING WORKSHOPS

Do you want to learn how to spot trends and translate the future into strategy, ideas and development for you and your organization? 

Sign up for Future Navigators online or physical trendspotting masterclass! 

The future of X #2: Gamification

The future of X #2: Gamification

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What if your work could be as fun as a game? Wouldn’t it be much more motivation and exciting to go to work, if you knew you would be rewarded as you would in a game? If for every client you gained or product you sold, you would “reach a new level”? Think about it. Maybe you’re already playing!

On the second episode of OZY’s newest season of the podcast, The Future of X: The workplace, futurist Liselotte Lyngso joins the discussion of how gamification will change the way we work. On this episode, her co-experts are Mark Stevenson, Keisha Howard, Gene Farrell and James Canton.

“The future isn’t so abstract when it comes to gamification. It’s already all around us. Pilots hire gamers to become pilots, because they’ve basically already done the training.”

-Liselotte Lyngso.

Do you like your job?

Mark Stevenson is a futurist and the author of “An Optimist’s Tour of the Future” and one of his biggest worries about today’s work life is employee disengagement. He wonders why work isn’t enjoyable, when it’s such a significant part of our lives.

“The average employee is currently productive for about three to four hours a day. 85 percent of employees are disengaged with their work.”

-Mark Stevenson.

Maybe employee disengagement is a cause of habit. We’ve gotten so used to doing the things we do, and we’re not even sure why we do it anymore. Or maybe we don’t care, because our boss doesn’t give us high enough demands. No matter what causes this, something has to be done.

If you dislike your job, it’s most likely the way you have to perform your job, that you don’t like. According to Mark Stevenson, we can fight this by making the active replication enjoyable itself. An example of this is having sex. Society would say that we have sex because we enjoy it. But the biological explanation is actually that we have to reproduce ourselves. So, we would probably still do it, even if Mother Nature hadn’t made it enjoyable for us. It’s kind of the same thing with our work. Whether we like it or not, we have to do it in order to support ourselves. But doing a “Mother Nature” and making it more enjoyable would probably solve a lot of issues and enhance our productivity tremendously!

Your gamer group is your new team mates

So how do we then make our jobs more fun? Mark Stevenson suggests gamification. This is something that Keisha Howard, the founder of Sugar Gamers, agrees strongly with. Her point is that human beings, kids, and animals intrinsically learn through play. And that gamification will have a positive influence on a lot of spectrums in our work lives.

“If we could quantify or qualify our work skills like in a game, or level up and earn points, it would motivate people in a whole new way. Maybe even give them a completely new platform to relate to one another.”

-Keisha Howard.

But gamification wouldn’t only be a way of motivating people to do their jobs. It might actually be the foundation of a whole new way of creating work teams. In a lot of video games, roleplay and choosing your own character is a big part of the game. The idea is to team up with players who have skills that you don’t. So, the characters might not be good at everything individually, but when they come together as a team, they can be a very powerful source. If we began to create work teams like we do in video games, it could revolutionize the whole team dynamic at the future workplace.

Today, we strike to perform perfectly every time and we’re really hard on ourselves if we don’t succeed. In gaming, everyone loses all the time. The point is exactly that you can only win when you’ve actually allowed yourself to lose all those times. Therefore, gamification might also create a whole new idea of what it means to lose.

How will democratizing problem solving influence future work life, and what might become some of the downsides to introducing gamification in future work life? Listen to the rest of the podcast with Liselotte Lyngso here, and find out.

Want to read more about the future workplace and work life? Check out these articles with Liselotte Lyngso.

MASTER THE ART OF TRENDSPOTTING
AND HOST YOUR OWN TREND MAPPING WORKSHOPS

Do you want to learn how to spot trends and translate the future into strategy, ideas and development for you and your organization? 

Sign up for Future Navigators online or physical trendspotting masterclass! 

The future of X #1: the workplace

The future of X #1: the workplace

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The future workplace is beyond the office. And our tools are becoming smarter and more powerful. How and why will our work change over the next 50 years? What does the next generation of the workforce care about? 

Futurist Liselotte Lyngsø, Future Navigator, is proud to be a part of OZY’s newest season of the podcast, The Future of X: The workplace. She talks about how frustration, curiosity and creativity is the key to success in the worklife of the future. To also give their input about the subject, was CEO of the Institute for Global Futures, James Canton and CEO of Smartsheet, Mark Mader. 

Based on OZY’s journalism and timely interviews with leading futurists, the podcast examines the ways in which technology will improve the contributions humans make to the world.

Watch out for the robots! Or what?

People often get really worried when they think about their future. Especially when it comes to their worklife, and especially in these times. Over the years, the technological era has really shown its face. The development of machines and robots is so fast, it’s hard to keep track of what we’ve got and what’s still yet to come. We talk about how almost every job that we see today is going to be a machine driven job in the future workplace and we ask: “well am I then going to be out of a job?”.

The truth is, human work has been evolving for a long time. It’s less than a 100 years ago that almost 100% of the jobs back then was found on farms. Who does the work on current farms? Machines! And the farmers are still not unemployed. They just found something better do do with their time. Doctor James Cantor states that as it is, humans aren’t event qualified to do future jobs. They need to learn new skills to stay in work. Human, emotional skills, that no robot can master.

“We need to understand as individuals – as leaders of companies and organizations, as leaders of even nations – that we are in a seismic change in the workforce.”

-James Canton, CEO of the Institute for Global Futures.

From being an on-looker to doing!

Maybe the robots will overtake the future workplace. But does that stop us from working? Or does it give us room to do what we’re actually qualified to do? We no longer need to be machines and do the hard work. In the future, people will study to become great humans. Learning human skills and mastering human emotions.

“Everyone should be creative! And creativity needs oxygen which we’ll get when less meaningful work is done by AI and machines.” 

-Mark Mader, CEO of Smartsheet.

Think about the inventions and ideas that have been brought to life over time. Robotic vacuum cleaners, loan mowers etc. Where did they come from? Why did we start inventing machines in the first place? Because we didn’t want to do the boring housework ourselves! Frustration leads to a better, smarter solution.

“For me creativity is also being lazy. It’s also being irritated. It’s also being curious. It’s basically being all the stuff that machines are not.”

-Liselotte Lyngsø, Future Navigator.

That’s what the machines are for!

For the next generation, a job is never going to just be a job anymore. And future leaders will also expect so much more from their employees. Not just that they do the paperwork – the machines can do that. But that they bring creativity and innovation into every project that they’re handed. The future workplace is not about looking at what everyone else is doing. We have to make the best out of people and create mening wherever we go.

How do we prepare people for what to come? Are people without a degree in science or math going to be jobless in the future? Not according to Mark Mader, but that’s for you to hear about in the first episode of The Future Workplace by OZY.

You can also read more about the future workplace in these articles with Liselotte Lyngso.

MASTER THE ART OF TRENDSPOTTING
AND HOST YOUR OWN TREND MAPPING WORKSHOPS

Do you want to learn how to spot trends and translate the future into strategy, ideas and development for you and your organization? 

Sign up for Future Navigators online or physical trendspotting masterclass!