The first 25 years of this century have delivered enormous changes in how we live and work. Here’s what to expect in the next 25.
Gen AI is poised to shape business and consumer trends over the long term, helping companies meet changes in customer preferences as they outgrow the trends of the past quarter-century.
Since 2000, consumers have experienced multiple waves of technological innovation–from the dawn of smartphones and social media through the rise of ecommerce and remote work to the abrupt acceleration of all these trends during the Covid-19 pandemic. Parallel to these changes, AI researchers and scientists were experimenting with models that would lead to the Gen AI tools we see today.
Now, Gen AI is ready to work at a time when many consumers feel overloaded by the need to engage with screens to work, shop, and relax. At the same time, there’s a rising interest in sustainable consumption, community, and emotional connections. Futurescape, a new report by frog, part of Capgemini Invent, draws on global insights to forecast how Gen AI will help businesses design more human-centered and sustainable products and experiences over the next quarter century.
“We wanted product and service designers’ perspectives on pressing issues like which consumer behaviors will change next, how technology and business will affect the planet, and what areas will AI affect that we may not expect now,” said Jess Leitch, head of frog North America, part of Capgemini Invent. “Our goal was to get a sense of which currently siloed areas may mesh in the coming years, and what challenges businesses need to be ready to face.”
Agentic CX strategies will replace traditional loyalty programs
Even the best designed customer loyalty experiences will run into the pervasive problem of digital fatigue, where consumers are facing growing exhaustion in navigating daily experiences through screens. As agentic AI capabilities grow, expect to see innovative brands rolling out conversational commerce agents that learn customers’ preferences, anticipate their needs, and build emotional connection through natural-language conversations that take screens out of the ecommerce experience.
Brands with AI voice agents that help customers evaluate product choices, place orders, and schedule deliveries through normal conversations will be able to build a form of loyalty that current points-and-rewards systems can’t replicate. That will be a boon to brands, whose traditional loyalty strategies don’t seem to resonate with younger consumers. According to a recent Prosper Insights & Analytics survey, only 45% of Gen-Z consumers aged 18 and older participate in any customer loyalty programs, compared to 61% of Baby Boomers.
Supply chains will evolve from linear to circular
With 80% of consumers now willing to pay a premium for more sustainable products, businesses are increasingly interested in circularity to meet customer expectations and to preserve resources. Gen AI has the potential to reduce supply chain waste and strategically improve product lifecycles, and it’s not the only technology poised to have an impact.
“Biodesign principles can improve supply chain sustainability by bringing natural processes into the production process,” Leitch said. “Researchers, designers and manufacturers are experimenting with biological processes to create more sustainable products and packaging.”
For example, Imperial College London researchers recently used genetically engineered bacteria to grow vegan leather that’s free of plastic. The bacteria also dyes the material, avoiding synthetic pigments. The team says their findings have wide potential applications for textile industry sustainability.
AI matures from passive assistance to active collaboration
Agentic AI for shopping and customer loyalty is one example of active collaboration, and it’s far from the only potential use case. The designers surveyed by frog expect Gen AI to improve its capacity for augmenting creative and strategic decision making. Although there’s a longstanding tendency to favor human judgment over algorithmic results when making important decisions, a growing number of businesses embrace Gen AI to optimize specific types of decisions, and more are likely to follow.
For example, healthcare organizations can use Gen AI now to quickly extract trends from large sets of patient data, which can enable better clinical decisions for patients with chronic conditions. In the nonprofit sector, an international financial institution’s AI assistant helps policymakers see “the impact of different interventions and identify those best suited to reach their objectives.”
Physical and digital boundaries will shift
AI has made inroads in the wearable fitness device industry, merging what were once separate domains. Now, some wearables offer Gen AI-backed individualized coaching. Users can ask their device to recommend a workout for the day, for example, and get recommendations tailored to their overall fitness level, goals, and current health data.
Expect to see the boundaries between physical and digital experiences blur as more industries develop hybrid experiences. For instance, healthcare organizations might add Gen AI capabilities to their patient monitoring tools that can generate suggestions for practitioners and patients. Retailers could take a similar approach, providing immersive shopping experiences that leave customers happier with their purchases and feeling more loyal to the brand.
Static screen time will give way to transparent user experiences
Gen AI may provide an antidote to digital fatigue by enabling organizations to replace some screen interactions with touchless engagements powered by AI and user biometrics. Tap-and-go payments via wearable devices are a step in this direction, but potential use cases also include building access, business and government services, and healthcare.
In an example that combines interactive screen engagement with transparent medical evaluation, University of Tokyo researchers have developed a camera-based sensor that can use AI to accurately screen patients for high blood pressure and diabetes during telehealth appointments, without the need for the patient to use blood pressure or diabetes testing equipment. This approach can eliminate the need for an office visit and reduce the stress patients may feel about using a blood pressure cuff or giving blood samples.
Leveraging AI to support human-centered goals
Over the next two and a half decades, we can expect easier, less screen-focused experiences while we shop, work, get healthcare, and engage with our surroundings. We can also expect manufacturers and brands to offer more sustainable products, developed with the help of AI, biodesign, and other innovative technologies. At the same time, humans and AI systems will become more closely connected as these models evolve to understand what we need and deliver it more seamlessly.
