By Rohit Talwar, Steve Wells, and Alexandra Whittington

The Technology Context

Across the technologically mature economies, citizens, society, businesses, and governments alike are becoming aware of the emergence of powerful technologies and their potential to reshape every aspect of human activity. The names of rapidly advancing technologies are becoming part of our everyday experience, even if we don’t fully understand their functionality, capabilities, long-term potential impacts, or implications. There is though, a growing understanding and expectation that our lives will be increasingly dependent on, and enhanced by, the coming together of a range of these technologies.

The most impactful of these exponentially advancing technologies are likely to be 5G communications, smartphones, smart wearable and embedded devices such as watches, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), big data, cloud computing, smart objects, smart speakers, home automation, blockchain, digital currencies, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), 3D printing, drones, robotics, sensors, the Internet of Things (IoT), and quantum computing.

So, how might these technologies combine to create previously unimaginable changes in everything from lifestyles, relationships, and work, to our food, leisure, and travel experiences? To explore these possibilities, the Life in 2025: Say Hello Say Goodbye Scenarios were developed for Huawei Consumer Business Group. The scenarios preview what we could see emerge across ten different aspects of human activity by the year 2025: Dating, Leisure Time, Friends and Family, Food and Dining, Entertainment, Fashion and Beauty, Travel, Health and Wellness, The Workplace, and Communication.

The ten scenarios will be enabled by key breakthroughs in six key technologies:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) – The major impacts in our lives will start to unfold when we begin to see specific aspects of human level (or higher) intelligence emerging in key consumer facing applications such as dating apps and travel management.
• 5G communications – The roll out of sufficient 5G infrastructure will enable the development of game-changing services, new tools, and applications that rely on high speed connectivity on the move.
• The Internet of Things (IoT) – The true transformational impact of IoT will start to unfold when we see internet-connected sensors being embedded in previously unconnected physical objects including street signs, household furniture, and even our clothing. Such connectivity will enable consumers to interact with these objects via their smartphone, smart screen, or tablet.
• Big Data – The next big wave of developments in big data will see the emergence of easy access large-scale data management tools. These will enable individuals and the smallest of businesses to start extracting insight and value from the sea of information surrounding them – with minimum effort.
• Cloud Computing – Cloud is a critical enabler for some of the radical large-scale AI applications on the horizon. The shift to widespread adoption of cloud computing by leading businesses in every sector will lead to a massive expansion in the capabilities of cloud providers. This in turn will drive up the range of consumer facing cloud applications.
• Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) – A combination of lower costs and enhanced functionality will see AR and VR tools embedded in, and bundled with, smartphone and tablet purchases. This will drive the development and take up of consumer facing applications in everything from home entertainment and street experiences, through to travel and education.

 1. Dating 2025

The next five years will see AI take the possibilities for dating to a new level. Dating apps could tap into information on our lives from across the web and social media, to enhance our composed profile. Algorithmic analysis of our health, attitudes, behaviours – on and off-line – combined with our communication styles, interests and preferences, dislikes, desires, and dreams – would enable a constantly updated profile, automatically matched to other app subscribers to save us time on scanning and swiping profiles.

Friends could vote on the AI’s “swipe rights” to confirm its choices. Matching could become much more refined based on intellectual, emotional, physical, and spiritual attributes, maybe even predicting the likely relationship length and the potential for longer term compatibility. Our smartphone-based AI could even read the reviews from previous dates and highlight those with a high compatibility probability. Optional DNA and health matching could alert for potential genetic risks should the couple decide to enter a relationship and have children.

Say goodbye to…

• Swiping right – as apps become increasingly automated, we can authorise our AI to make decisions on our behalf.
• Difficult dating decisions – The outcomes of DNA / health matching could provide the perfect excuse if “you’re just not that into him.”

Location based searching will use the power of 5G to help the AIs of potential matches passing each other on the street to determine if their owners should meet. The technology would also use our profiles to suggest an ideal first date, time, activity, and location. For those that want more say, a “Netflix for dates” would suggest restaurants based on biological data, DNA tests, Myers-Briggs profile, and other available digital data. Poor compatibility will no longer be to blame for bad dates or break-ups. Furthermore, learning to take more personal responsibility for our behaviour in relationships should improve the dating scene in general – because the feedback on our dates will be available for subsequent analysis.

Say goodbye to…

• Bad date nights – as the sophisticated multi-faceted matching managed by AI should ensure a much higher chance of the two people connecting well on a first date and subsequent ones.

On the date, AI technology could suggest discussion topics via an earpiece or projections onto our digital glasses and contact lenses. It could highlight important body language cues and vital microfacial expressions from the other person that we might miss. Our AI could also perform continuous analysis of our date’s voice and language to assess their emotions and desires – steering us towards or away from topics, while providing insights on how to ask for a second date.

The technology could also relay real-time information to our inner circle of friends – collating and prioritising advice from them and professional dating advisors across the web. We need never be lost for words or misinterpret a cue again. Instantaneous translation could also mean that language need never be a barrier to dating.

Say goodbye to…

• Misunderstandings throughout the lifetime of a relationship – because the AI in our devices will be analysing our conversation and our thought patterns, to help spot when we are misinterpreting the other person, or not understanding what is really being said.

2. Family and Friends 2025

By 2025, a combination of the power of 5G and a range of immersive and connected technologies should allow us to take part in celebrations with friends and family across the world.

By 2025, technology innovation should enable family members across the planet to work together to create a multisensory immersive birthday experience. Everything from the way we sustain connection, through to how we care for the elderly will be subject to radical change resulting from the rapid pace of advance in these core technologies.

Distance won’t be an issue when it comes to meeting up, with 5G allowing us to spend more time together. Immersive and connected technologies could help us to take part in virtual celebrations with friends and family across the world. Video calls will evolve through AR to allow you to experience multi-sensory communication with family even from thousands of miles away.

Say goodbye to…

• Missing family celebrations – hug grandma on her 80th birthday while you are 12,000KM away, smell the flowers you sent her, and taste the sumptuous birthday dinner.

Using the rapidly advancing developments in brain wave interpretation technologies, our grandparents could recreate multi-sensory experiences from their past to share with younger generations. Combining images and even videos with touch, smell, taste, and emotional sensations, once forgotten experiences can be brought to life. This could be supplemented by AI technology, drawing on internet searches for additional information to fill in the historic context.

Technology could also help bring back the element of surprise around special occasions such as birthdays – rather than giving out wish lists or receiving money. AI located within our devices, might talk to the AI of our friends and family members – sharing what we might like as a gift, based on the AIs knowledge of our current interests and the things we’ve been absorbed by.

Say goodbye to…

• Regifting of unwanted presents – by 2025, all gifts can truly be a surprise because our AI has communicated our desires secretly to our loved ones.
• Technologies such as AI might also help increase inter-generational bonds by translating the words, phrases and concepts used by one generation into something the other might understand and relate to.

Visualisations from AR and VR tools might make family histories more interesting to young people and help the elderly deal with memory problems. Storytelling at family events might involve recalling imagery or sounds conjured up with digital technology or smart speakers in real-time.

Say goodbye to…

• Forgotten experiences – the interconnected, smart home of the future may be outfitted to display family photos and videos on demand at all times, perhaps with special holiday settings for family gatherings.

3. How we’ll Spend Our Free Time

In a world where the demands and temptations of technology are challenging us as we seek to keep up, whilst retaining a sense of control over our time and actions, technology itself may play a vital role in life management. For example, the ability to use digital for work, play, learning, and socialising anywhere and everywhere means the potential for no natural downtime and so, using technology to help us decouple from the digital world is key.

Technology could become a trusted gatekeeper – barring our access to social media so we can sleep and by auto responding to work emails and texts, ensuring that we don’t have to answer them late into the night. This AI technology might also pre-emptively manage our schedule, protect our personal time, and create space for thinking and completing our own tasks alongside the seemingly never-ending demand for meetings.

Say goodbye to…

• Unproductive social media scrolling – our smartphones could help direct us to the most interesting content according to our interests, highlight where we’ve missed an important update or event invite from a friend, and give us a gentle nudge to reconnect with those we might have inadvertently lost touch with.

With our friends, the technology will help take over the tasks of arranging nights out, managing event budgets, and organising activities for a group of two or more people. On the night, AI will take care of splitting the bill, so that it is either divided equally or everyone pays their fair share according to their actual consumption – even keeping track down to the amount of wine each person drank.

Party planning might be completely stress-free with an AI assistant in charge. Imagine the surprises in store if you were to let a robot plan your birthday celebration. All our special memories and events could be digitally captured to be re-experienced someday in VR. In 2025, we might attend entirely AR-based parties with scavenger hunts, enjoying hired appearances by holograms of celebrity guests (dead or alive), or use the immersive technology to attend live social events virtually.

Say goodbye to…

• Boring events – might be eliminated as AI technology can produce endless scenarios for entertainment.
• Absent friends – fewer friends might flake on special events, so that more socialisation, not less, could be the outcome.

The advent of AI powered and 5G enabled AR and VR would allow us to accumulate new experiences while relaxing at home within fully immersive environments, enabling us to explore, interact, learn, and experience things we might never be able or willing to do in the real world. This might also enable us to enjoy truly immersive experiences, virtually connecting us with friends, family, and loved ones when we can’t be together, or even starting relationships with someone we had not physically met.

Technology could increasingly free up leisure time, with AI, drones, and domestic robots taking on more domestic tasks – from cleaning and washing clothes to compiling tax returns and trip planning. That free time could be invested in learning to sing, compose music, develop craft skills, or acquire new languages. These learning experiences would all take place under the careful guidance of an unwaveringly supportive and enthusiastic AI AI tutor with infinite patience.

Since making beautiful things may be easily automated in-home, a future hobby might be producing art with an AI assistant that can write songs or paint. An AI guide could make pastimes like sewing or crafting easier for those who are not artistic but enjoy making unique items – this may also be true for older people whose eyesight or motor skills are in decline.

3D printers might put the power to create beautiful home décor into the hands of more people, even allowing amateur designers to grow their hobby into a side business. We may be enabled to beautify our world and improve our lives in our free time thanks to smart tech at our fingertips.

Say goodbye to…

• Mass-produced goods – which may become gauche, as personal design skills expand. Producing things may replace the activity of buying things. For some, ecological considerations and the commitment to recycle would be coupled with the desire to engage in crafts and bring their personal creativity to bear. This could lead to a big rise in the maker movement. We could also see less inclination to shop frivolously for things in the home, with a greater personal meaning behind and investment in the items we create. This might improve the perceived value of the regular things we do own.

4. Food and Dining

Our food experience will see dramatic and unexpected shifts in everything from farming and food quality, to grocery shopping and dining. Using an array of smart technologies, farms could become highly automated and productive sources of premium quality food. Picture tomorrow’s farm – with sensors monitoring every aspect of the environment and AI used to optimise the planning and conduct of all farming activity. With robots and drones doing the physical work, farms could become hyper-efficient – bringing dramatic food waste reductions – something that could be repeated across the food chain through the use of similar technologies.

Say goodbye to…

• Unhealthy eating – with fast food orders replaced by digital subscriptions for produce from traditional and vertical farms. Everyday consumers could become the farmers of the future – owning physical allotments within these farms. Such farms would be nurtured and managed remotely through robots and drones, under the guidance of our AI communicating via our smartphones. Produce would be delivered on demand, directly to our door once ripe, by personalised drones.

An expanded understanding of human health and nutrition will enable deep personalisation of dining experiences. Our smartphone-based AI technology would monitor and guide menu options and ingredient selection, interrogating the contents and provenance of restaurant dishes and grocery store products, negotiating with chefs to tailor recipes, and guiding us through domestic meal preparation.

Our phones and an array of interconnected home devices will become the gateway through which we can access a range of food services and dining experiences. For example, “access on demand” shared community robots may eliminate several food related tasks. These robots would be tasked with shopping, loading and unpacking bags, and stacking shelves.

By 2025, robots will also routinely be preparing and serving meals in highly interconnected smart kitchens, laying and clearing the table, and of course doing the washing up. Sensors and intelligence built into autonomous cooking utensils and cutlery would allow meals to be cooked in the precise manner of a celebrity chef. Entrepreneurial home chefs could create recipes, have the details, smells, and tastes captured by these smart kitchen devices and resold over the internet with potential customers able to smell and taste the recipe before purchase using multi-sensory VR.

Say goodbye to…

• The Friday night takeaway – which could be replaced by a home menu of options from digital celebrity chefs, whose skills and abilities can be synced and programmed into in-house AI robots – making gourmet meals accessible to all, with the services accessed via our smartphones and interconnected home devices.

Our profiles and preferences could also be used to 3D print highly personalised food and to request meals to be prepared by celebrity inspired robo-chefs or humans working from “ghost kitchens”. They would create customised meals on demand, with the food heated to perfection on route to your door via autonomous vehicles or drones.

Robo-chefs could also deliver personalised self-heating trays, containing all the dishes for the forthcoming edition of a cooking programme such as Masterchef, so that you can sample the food alongside the judges. For home-cooked meals, neighbours could share recipes, ingredients and kitchen tools using automated social networks which display the goods available to buy or borrow locally.

Our smartphone embedded AI could also be scanning social media and web-based networks of innovative new and emerging professional and amateur chefs, sourcing the latest recipes that would be beneficial to our personal dietary regime.

Say goodbye to…

• The traditional cookbook market and dining with celebrity chefs – which will be replaced by recipes sourced from the most innovative cookery networks and celebrity chefs’ robo-twins.
• Fast food, frozen food, large grocery orders, and bulk-purchases – which could be replaced with the dining experience becoming much more spontaneous, customised, healthy, and affordable.

Concerns over food safety and adverse reactions could be eliminated with low cost smartphone-connected portable sensors. These would scan everything on store shelves or our plates for ingredients, possible contaminants, and freshness.

5. Travel

Over the next five years, 5G will provide the platform for travel and travel planning to become a truly multi-sensory, immersive experience.

The use of AI will allow for seamless and highly interconnected multi-modal travel experiences. Once we select a destination or accept a recommendation, our AI digital twins will complete our door to door travel arrangements using our personalised travel preferences that they have built up a continuously updated picture of over time. This will factor in timings, ground transport, rail, airline or cruise line, departure port, vessel type, in journey catering, hotel, room amenities, cancellations, rebooking, and environmental impacts – which will all be tied to our personal schedule.

Say goodbye to…

• User accessed travel apps and booking sites – Our AI could do all the searching for us, to eliminate the need to spend hours scrolling through travel choices. Instead, our AI will increasingly be able to curate the perfect experience through learned behaviours – including the holiday images you have responded to most positively on photo sharing platforms, as well as your continually evolving reactions to the world around you.
• Being late to the airport – for even the most disorganised traveller. Constant reminders from the AI within our smartphones, alongside robo-packing assistance, will ensure we are ready on time for the autonomous vehicle pick up – meaning no more missed flights, trains, or coaches.

Booking could become highly immersive using AR and VR – which could allow us to smell the hotel bathroom fragrances, taste the airline food, and feel the bed linen – all before making a choice. Alternatively, future travel experiences in 2025 could occur on a continuum ranging from partially to completely virtual. For example, multi-sensory AR and VR could provide the experience of a cold arctic night, the savanna winds on our face, and the force of a lion’s roar – all from the comfort of our sofa.

Say goodbye to…

• Travel excursions left to chance, bad hotel decisions, and overpriced meals.
• Physical travel as we begin to embrace virtual holidays.

As socially conscious consumers reduce their overall ecological footprint by taking advantage of the immersive possibilities of AR and VR and opt for “stay at home” multi-sensory travel experiences. Wanderlust might be seen as a historical anachronism, while actual travel may seem to be a privilege or a relic.

Using a combination of biometric security and facial recognition coupled with blockchain based passports, immigration controls could all but disappear. We should be able to board and leave international planes, trains, and ships – and enter or depart from countries with the minimum of interruption.

At our destination, our smartphone-based AI technology is already starting to enable real-time two-way translation, with facial recognition eliminating the need for a hotel room key, and biometrics allowing us to complete purchases with a blink of an eye. By 2025, these could be replaced by multi-parameter scanning to identify our unique personal genetic signature. Our could be AI initiating purchases autonomously because it has detected patterns of brain activity that suggest we want to buy the item we are looking at.

Say goodbye to…

• Delays and long queues when travelling from one country to the next – the traditional bottlenecks of immigration and security controls could be eliminated, enabling increased passage speed, easing the flow of travellers, and reducing border control costs and hold ups.
• Communication barriers – as our smartphone-based AI reaches the standard of the very best multilingual human translators.

 

Along our journey self-owning, independent, clean, and autonomous electric cars will transport us. They will earn fares for each journey, pool with other cars on the road to self-regulate traffic and self-insure, and share their profits with those involved in manufacturing, financing, servicing, and refuelling the vehicle.

At the destination, multi-sensory AR and VR will far surpass the role of traditional guidebooks, going beyond text and pictures and allowing us to experience how places might have evolved over time – including the sights, sounds, smells, language, dress styles, and modes of transport.

Say goodbye to…

• Traditional taxi services, taxi ownership, and variable journey times to the traveller’s destination – as autonomous vehicles and smart traffic management redefine the door to door vehicle travel experience.
• Paper based guidebooks – with the immersive technologies able to create a much greater depth of experience and understanding of what we see and do on our travels than ever before.
• Self-driven rental cars and the need for customer-facing GPS or maps – the transportation will take you where you need to go, so no need for directions.

6. Live and Video Entertainment

The speed and bandwidth of 5G, coupled with the ever-increasing power of AI, AR, and VR, will help to transform live entertainment experiences, adding additional sensory and content elements.

The act of watching live theatre or a concert could be enhanced with the ability to overlay the visual experience with live translations and information about the performers, the script, and lyrics. Multi-sensory AR, VR, and next generation audio technologies would allow us to sample the performances from different places in the venue – including on stage.

We could also feel the sensations of a stage embrace, or the adrenaline rush for the lead singer as 100,000 people sing along. Producers could design a premium priced range of additional physical sensations, smells, tastes, visuals, and sound effects that can be built into the immersive experience for the audience to purchase.

While watching films and playing video games, the experience could also become fully immersive. We could choose to have our face overlaid on the characters, to pause while we see how we’d look in the outfits being worn, and purchase items depicted on screen. We might taste the food being eaten, feel the sensations of the moonwalk being undertaken by the actors or real astronauts, or even sample the sheer exhilaration and body impacts of taking a racetrack corner at the wheel with a Formula One champion.

At festivals and fairs, the fear of missing out (FOMO) will be reduced as we will be able to stay in our spot at the main stage and wait for the next performance, while scanning and watching the activities taking place on parallel stages, via multi-channel live streaming video on our 5G phone.

Say goodbye to…

• FOMO (fear of missing out) – as we will be able to consume multiple experiences at the same event. This could also drive new market opportunities such as advertising and merchandising, via multi-channel live video streaming of all the activities taking place.

Live sporting experiences could be extended in similar ways, to allow us to feel every touch of the ball and the bodily sensation of scoring. We could watch live replays on demand, purchase merchandise from our seats, and even connect with spectators across the stadium.

The role of referees could be assisted by AI technology, via sensors built into players” kits to detect shirt pulling, handballs, and other types of infringement. Sensor to sensor communication will allow for perfect real time offside decisions every time and eliminate any doubt over whether the tennis stroke landed in or outside the line.

Say goodbye to…

• Subjective refereeing calls – and long waits for VAR (Video Assistant Referee) decisions, that impact the ebb and flow of the game.
• The fears and risks related to active sports – from skiing and horse riding to extreme sports – everyone will be able to participate via multi-sensory ultra-realistic simulations, where we can crash as often as we want without suffering a single bruise or broken bone.

At major events such as festivals and large public celebrations, 5G will help pinpoint everything from the location of those in need of medical assistance, through to a falafel burger, or a toilet. Drones would be on hand, ready to provide the support we need – be it an airlift to safety or a food delivery, through to an on-demand pop-up toilet brought to wherever you are in the crowd.

Augmented reality and 5G could also provide wayfinding guidance, with real time AI-enabled queue analysis of various attractions to help attendees plan their experience and minimise waiting times. Biometrics could also simplify event security, ticketing, and retail – and high-speed 3D printing would enable bespoke merchandising or uniquely themed food experiences.

Say goodbye to…

• Long queues for facilities and the risk of losing your spot in the crowd – because everything could be delivered to you directly, via smartphone requests and drone deliveries.
• The significant waste of time, resources, and revenue losses – due to long queue lengths that traditionally typify major outdoor events, thus improving the overall experience and environmental sustainability of the event.

7. Fashion and Beauty

The power of AI, AR and VR, enabled on the move by 5G, offers the potential to reinvigorate and reimagine the retail experience. Our smartphones will become the nerve centre of our personal care regimes. We could eliminate the bulk of our wardrobe and opt for the element of surprise, with our smartphone choosing or advising on a daily rented outfit which we confirm and have delivered the night before via drone or street robot.

The desire for new, coupled with a sustainability mindset, could see us join clothing sharing networks, accessed via a smartphone app – where we purchase or rent the items collectively and then have a certain level of usage rights for every item in the shared closet. Pre-determined sustainability and provenance filters might ensure that we never even get to see things that are ecologically unsounds or produced unethically. Advanced 3D printing services will enable us to design items and have them custom fabricated while we shop elsewhere or grab a coffee in a mall.

Personalised offers, fitting, and selection will become the norm with bespoke window displays targeted at the individual passer-by. We can envisage a rise of “experience stores” with product interaction through immersive technologies.

Through virtual fittings using AR and VR we will be able to feel the sensation of the clothes against our skin. Point at an outfit – in store, at an event, or on the street – and see how we’d look in it on our phone, on an in-store mirror, or using a 3D hologram. We may just choose to shop in our own closets, using apps that show us how to create new outfit combinations from what we already own. Second-hand or vintage shopping might also be newly invigorated with the assistance of apps or AI services, which locate items in our size and to our liking.

Say goodbye to…

• The imperfect fit and buyer’s remorse – long gone are the days of ill-fitting clothes, with AR and VR set to become staples in our wardrobe to help us try on clothes through virtual fittings.

Larger purchases could be delivered by drones, street robots, and autonomous vehicles. Autonomous vans could also bring the store to you – offering the latest items selected for you to try at home at any time of day or night. To help with item selection, AI technology would share information on our current wardrobe, measurements, interests, accessorising approach, usage patterns, and forthcoming schedule. Friends could then be called in by video to consult on our choices.

Say goodbye to…

• Children in ill-fitting and outdated clothing – parents could save money with AI predicting their children’s clothing and shoe sizes over the coming months and shopping accordingly.

Given the short window of usage, parents could reject outright purchases in favour of a subscription service that provides the necessary uniform and choice of casual clothing items for a period of time before the child grows out of them and onto the next size up. A smart speaker or robotic AI assistant may also help with getting the elderly or young children dressed in the morning.

Our clothing itself will undoubtedly become more intelligent using smart adaptive materials, 3D and 4D printed elements, and built in sensors. USB or wireless connectivity and wireless charging will become standard features on many items. Our clothes could also be the source of the power required by our personal devices through energy harvesting techniques such as piezoelectric, the capture and conversion of body heat, and harnessing static electricity.

Say goodbye to…

• Retro fashion – smart clothing, such as garments and shoes will be able to change properties according to lighting and heating conditions, as well as “breathe” to control airflow around the body.

Smart fabrics may increasingly be self-cleaning and require no washing whatsoever. Smart closets might automate our wardrobe selection so that we always look our best. Busy mornings would go smoothly with pre-scheduled clothing choices for the whole family.

Say goodbye to…

• Cosmetic products – such as creams, makeup, lipstick, and other “manual” forms of personal care and beauty, which would seem outdated and only used to create a retro or historical effect.

This same level of personalisation will apply across the beauty and personal care sector. A combination of increasingly “programmable” skin care products and AI could guide our choices using deep physiological knowledge of our bodies and how they react to different chemicals.

The beauty care sector will see a dramatic expansion by 2025, with offerings ranging from dynamic permanent and temporary video tattoos and light adaptive colour changing makeup, through to biological rejuvenation treatments, 3D printed limbs, and life extension therapies.

Say goodbye to…

• Bad lighting – our smartphone AI and connected home devices will work together to offer us a range of lighting options for every possible occasion.

Smart homes may be programmed to enhance our personal beauty through moment by moment lighting and ambience adjustments. We may invite a date for dinner and put on the most flattering lights for the evening or create the right mood to complement style choices when hosting a party.

8. Fitness, Wellness, and Healthcare

The management of our health is one area where we can expect technology to have a radical impact. Whether at home, on the go, or in a medical facility, the potential for continuous collection and analysis of vital patient data could transform our health and wellbeing. Health monitoring sensors will increasingly be IoT connected, wearable, body implanted, and even embedded in objects across the smart home, office, and patient’s bedside. The resulting health data will be crunched in real-time to determine diagnosis, medication, prognosis, care instructions, notifications, and alerts.

Concerns over food safety and adverse reactions could be eliminated with low cost portable sensors connected via our mobile phones, that scan everything on store shelves or our plates for ingredients, contaminants, and freshness.

Say goodbye to…

• Pulling a sickie – which will become a thing of the past – as there will be no excuse to call in sick with a “stomach bug”. With technology helping us to maintain better health and provide evidence of our medical condition, this could help us drive up levels of trust in the workplace.
• Food poisoning – Food safety and adverse reactions could also be eliminated with low cost portable sensors connected via our smartphones, that scan everything on store shelves or our plates for ingredients, contaminants, and freshness.

This ever-growing volume of data will allow medically trained health and wellness optimisers to treat the human body like a high-performance race car or jet aircraft. Offering detailed and constantly updated personal care regimes that encompass everything from daily exercise and meditation to supplement routines.

Health optimisations app will monitor real time feedback from individuals’ sensors to suggest refinements in their daily routine, rest breaks, and meal by meal dietary advice – through to booking an optimiser appointment should you require more serious human assessment and intervention. The app would remind us to exercise and even pair us with workout partners, so we don’t skip the gym. Using accountability to drive results, exercise tracking might be accompanied by VR and AR visualisations of how we’ll look after meeting our goals. On a day-to-day basis, such apps could also play a preventative role, making us aware of new incidences of flu and other such outbreaks in our local area and provide us with appropriate preventative advice.

In more extreme cases, our wearables might notice a pattern across key indicators and disease markers that, when compared to population-wide datasets, suggests the individual is building up to a cardiac arrest or other serious medical event. The app on our smartphone would then assemble and share the relevant data with an auto-called ambulance and the health optimiser. The app would then coach the person through what actions they need to take in preparation for the arrival of medical help. Such apps could also help enhance our mental wellbeing, by advising on pre-emptive care and monitoring everything from keystrokes to voice tone and word patterns to detect possible signs of stress and offer appropriate interventions.

Say goodbye to…

• Emergency telephone numbers – as Healthcare AI technology within our devices could replace the need to physically call the emergency services.
• Unexpected illnesses such as flu – our smartphone app would be alerting us to new outbreaks, advising us on precautionary measures and having us act at the first sign of any symptoms.

Our health app or autonomous vehicle might also receive regular air quality, pollution notices, traffic updates, and pollen alerts from the relevant authorities and web-based services to help guide our journey – avoiding any infected or busy areas.

Say goodbye to…

• Poor awareness of current air quality – allowing people to take effective countermeasures such as avoiding polluted areas or taking medication prophylactically.

9. Communications

Advances in the underlying technologies could transform the experience of communicating. Developments could include mobile devices embedded into our bodies and clothing, with immersive, holographic experiences as standard for everyday conversations and video conferencing. The AR and VR evolution to 2025 will see multi-sensory experiences built into our communications, so that we can physically touch and smell the other person when talking to family and friends on the other side of the world.

Our device interfaces could be sufficiently advanced to recognise and call who we want to talk to – based on our thought patterns – and equally, screen out those with whom we don’t want to engage. For inbound sales and marketing calls, AI could take over the dialogue to screen the offer and determine if it would be of interest to us to have a follow-on call.

Say goodbye to…

• Auto-correct fails – when composing text and email messages, AI technology could offer the options of automatically correcting poor spelling and grammar and highlight where a comment is open to interpretation. The technology could also offer context relevant suggestions of how best to convey a point or respond to the content, energy, and emotion in the other person’s communications. The technology could go further and suggest different ways of framing the same message for different audiences such as friends, a sibling, parent, or boss.

Our devices will learn our behaviours and the emotions associated with our choice of words and patterns of breathing and speaking. We can then give them the option of coaching us on calls, breaking a call if it becomes too emotional, or taking over the call and speaking on our behalf. An AI assistant or a VR experience might serve as a personal communications coach. We could practice speeches or presentations with them and get feedback about speaking style. Students and professionals might use them regularly and they might also help those nervous about approaching any kind of speaking, even interpersonal interactions. Language apps that help with grammar, accents, and writing may also grow into a necessity.

Say goodbye to…

• The fear of public speaking – which would be greatly decreased in society, with support groups and courses to help drastically improve a speaker’s confidence and performance.

Mobile communication devices will increasingly be woven into our clothes with access to the data we need. Contacts, favourites, reminders, and destination navigation would automatically be stored in the cloud, ready to be accessed when we get dressed the following morning.

Our phone will effectively become our personal life concierge and prevent us from forgetting key events. Our smartphone AI will not only give us alerts of impending activities, but also remind us of the supporting actions that we need to take. So, if our child has time off school in three weeks for a teacher training day, we will be reminded to book time off, schedule to work from home that day, or arrange childcare. The urgency of the reminders will increase over time. Our AI might block us from doing anything else with our phone if we get to a week out from the event and haven’t yet taken the appropriate action.

Say goodbye to…

• Disorganisation – There will be no excuse for forgetting key events and appointments, as our mobile devices will become our personal life concierge and transform the way we manage our diaries.
• Task disruption – Greater streamlining of the daily schedule would be guaranteed – leading to fewer unexpected interruptions across work, home, and school.

10. Workplace

Technological innovations will increasingly enable us to be as effective and secure while on the move, at a remote location, or at home as in the office.

The workplace environment could evolve to the point where smart furniture and intelligent personal assistants monitor our productivity, provide instant on the job training and instructional videos when we need them, and manage the physical environment to help enhance our comfort and performance.

Say goodbye to…

• The traditional office environment – “Holoportation” would allow users to teleport their holographic 3D presence into a different physical space. Working remotely adopts a whole new meaning and digital nomads become the norm.

Workplace 2025 will be characterised by constant interaction between our personal AI, located within our interconnected devices, and the AIs of the organisation we work for. Monitoring of our brain waves, physical activity such as keyboard typing patterns, conversations, and movement, will help determine the type of support we require from one moment to the next, to help us concentrate and “produce”, reflect, and be creative, or simply rest.

Say goodbye to…

• Inefficient working and wasted physical and mental energy – technology will help us ensure that we are working on the right tasks in the right way.

Remote workers and the self-employed may welcome a personalised mix of smart technology tools for tech support, accounting, and customer contact – keeping us productive and connected. The technology could also remind us to slow down and take breaks at appropriate spots in the day.

Employers will start to place increasing reliance on AI at every stage of the recruitment process – from framing the job advertisement to convey the right information, through to evaluating CVs, candidate selection, interviewing, and even making automated job offers.

For the individual employee, regular personality type assessments will be used to determine whether we are in the right role and what we need to work on to take up new tasks and opportunities within a thriving internal gig economy, where potential, aptitude, and capability are key determinants of each placement.

By 2025, AI could be proactively scanning the market for new opportunities that might be of interest to us and automatically constructing our CV or job application to best convey our suitability for a role.

Say goodbye to…

• Bad work / job placements – allowing people the opportunity to work in the right project given the balance of their current abilities, interests, and development goals – in turn leading to better job performance and productivity.

For those seeking advancement and salary increases, AI technology could help us assemble our case, rehearse how to present it, and advise on different types of negotiating strategy – driving towards a positive outcome for all. Training in self-management skills such as communication, conflict resolution, negotiation, and collaboration could be delivered in daily bite sized chunks to ensure we are constantly curious, always learning, and extending our capability and impact.

Within organisations, we can expect the continual automation of HR tasks and processes such as workforce planning, procedural advice to line managers, skills matching, recruitment, selection and onboarding, performance monitoring, and rewards management.

Say goodbye to…

• Resourcing gaps in terms of both capacity and skills – With AI providing the input to drive early issue identification, thus enabling rapid resolution and increasing productivity over time as the right resources are put in place more rapidly.
• Unequal pay – fair pay regardless of gender, age, or race could be guaranteed.

Alongside the advent and use of new forms of automation, robots, and intelligent avatars, employees may also choose to upgrade their performance through the use of implantables to provide constant monitoring, exoskeletons to enhance strength and speed, and nootropics to improve cognitive capabilities. As a result, our workplaces could encompass different types of basic and enhanced human alongside digital actors, requiring us to adopt new models of, and approaches to, leadership for the hybrid organisation.

 

 

The authors are futurists with Fast Future – a professional foresight firm specializing in delivering keynote speeches, executive education, research, and consulting for global clients on the emerging future and the impacts of change. To arrange a presentation on the Life in 2025 scenarios please contact

To access more of our articles and learn more about our work please visit www.fastfuture.com

You can find summaries of the ten scenarios here.

• How can I bring the future in my organization?

To find out more about key developments, ideas, tools, and approaches to help you and your organization navigate a fast changing future, why not attend one of the 20 leadership focused events taking place over seven days during Fast Future’s London Futures Week – March 30th – April 5th 2020.

 

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