We are in the midst of a technological revolution. ChatGPT and other generative AI models are creating large-scale disruptions, transforming how we work, create, and collaborate — even what it means to be human.

Are you ready?

Join IFTF to forecast emerging possibilities in our new Three Horizons of AI mini-course

In just three sessions you will engage with renowned IFTF research faculty and foresight tools to look across the near-, mid-, and long-term technology horizons. This course will help you make sense of this rapidly changing landscape, equip you with the skills of futures thinking and foresight to engage in generative AI forecasting for your organization, and inform your organizational AI visions.

For over 50 years, IFTF has guided hundreds of entities in understanding emerging technologies and their societal implications. With a rich background in forecasting and tech literacy, IFTF offers unique expertise and comprehensive knowledge of the present and future AI landscapes.

About the Three Horizons of AI mini-course

The course consists of three weekly 2-hour virtual sessions, each designed to explore the potential short-term, mid-term, and long-term futures of AI. By participating in this course you’ll get an overview of the rapidly evolving AI field, hands-on experience with cutting-edge generative AI platforms, and structured methods for forecasting emerging risks and opportunities.

The details
  • Horizon 1 Session: What we see today
    Familiarize yourself with generative AI, interact with today’s cutting-edge AI tools. Understand early adopters, innovators and signals. Create your own AI-driven forecast.
  • Horizon 2 Session: Envisioning the next 5 years
    Identify the risks and opportunities that AI presents to your organization. Anticipate and prepare for mid-term disruptions.
  • Horizon 3 Session: Imagining the next 10 years and beyond
    Push your strategic horizon out to the next decade. IFTF’s Systems Mythology framework builds your long-term insight and helps you assess possible roles, applications and user contexts that AI will serve as it integrates with existing systems. Develop scenarios and applications for possible AI-driven futures.
With this course, you will:

  • Gain a foundational understanding of Large Language Models (LLMs).

  • Acquire practical experience with four tried-and-tested forecasting techniques, empowering you to develop and articulate provocative visions of potential futures, backed by tangible evidence from today.

  • Explore current and emerging AI applications and use cases, with a focus on their future potential.

  • Participate in a guided, hands-on session with generative AI tools, designed to help you understand the medium’s strengths, weaknesses, and unique affordances.

  • Foster collective sense-making by engaging in facilitated group discussions about AI futures.

  • Develop high-level assessments of potential opportunities and risks that AI might pose to your organization to help you develop a strategy.

  • Build a custom AI-powered web application, using the knowledge and resources provided during the course.

Who is this course for?

This course is designed for a broad audience including, but not limited to:

  • Professionals: Looking to integrate AI into their work processes or who want to understand its influence on their industries.

  • Executives: Aiming to future-proof their organizations against the disruptive potential of AI.

  • Strategists: Interested in leveraging AI's transformative power to gain a competitive advantage.

  • Foresight Professionals: Wanting to deepen their understanding of how AI will shape the next decade.

  • Curious Minds: Anyone intrigued by AI and its strategic implications, both now and in the future.

Regardless of your background, no prior AI knowledge is required. All you need is a willingness to explore, use your imagination and learn.

Don't miss this opportunity to build your own AI literacy!

Registration: $950


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Training Dates

Tues Sep 19, 2023 8:00-10:00am PDT | 11:00am-1:00pm EDT | 5:00-7:00 CEST

Tues Sep 26, 2023 8:00-10:00am PDT | 11:00am-1:00pm EDT | 5:00-7:00 CEST

Tues Oct 3, 2023 8:00-10:00am PDT | 11:00am-1:00pm EDT | 5:00-7:00 CEST

Enroll today.

Thurs Oct 12, 2023 8:00-10:00am PDT | 11:00am-1:00pm EDT | 5:00-7:00 CEST

Thurs Oct 19, 2023 8:00-10:00am PDT | 11:00am-1:00pm EDT | 5:00-7:00 CEST

Thurs Oct 26, 2023 8:00-10:00am PDT | 11:00am-1:00pm EDT | 5:00-7:00 CEST

Enroll today.

Thursday, Oct 17, 2023 10am-12pm noon AEST | 7am - 9am SGT | 4-6pm PDT

Thursday, Oct 24, 2023 10am-12pm noon AEST | 7am - 9am SGT | 4-6pm PDT

Thursday, Oct 31, 2023 10am-12pm noon AEST | 7am - 9am SGT | 4-6pm PDT

Enroll today.

Wed Nov 1, 2023 8:00-10:00am PDT | 11:00am-1:00pm EDT | 5:00-7:00 CEST

Wed Nov 8, 2023 8:00-10:00am PDT | 11:00am-1:00pm EDT | 5:00-7:00 CEST

Wed Nov 15, 2023 8:00-10:00am PDT | 11:00am-1:00pm EDT | 5:00-7:00 CEST

Enroll today.

Tuesday, November 28, 2023 at 8:00-10:00am PDT | 11:00am-1:00pm EDT | 5:00-7:00 CEST

Tuesday, December 5, 2023 at 8:00-10:00am PDT | 11:00am-1:00pm EDT | 5:00-7:00 CEST

Tuesday, December 12, 2023 at 8:00-10:00am PDT | 11:00am-1:00pm EDT | 5:00-7:00 CEST

Enroll today.

Faculty

Lyn Jeffery leads IFTF’s Foresight Essentials program, supporting people, organizations, and communities to develop their own foresight capacities. A cultural anthropologist and an IFTF Distinguished Fellow, Lyn explores how people make sense of the rapidly changing world around them, whether a “left-behind” child in a Sichuan village, a leader in a multinational organization developing their own futures thinking skills, or an amateur musician experimenting with new VR instruments. Before joining IFTF, Lyn worked in China as a tour guide, nonprofit researcher, Fulbright scholar and television producer. Lyn has enduring interests in learning experience design, mobility, social media, collaborative technologies. She holds a BA in Chinese Studies and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

IFTF Director Dylan Hendricks produces IFTF’s Ten-Year Forecast, the public expression of IFTF’s foundational research. Dylan brings strategic imagination and a whole-systems perspective to his work across the Institute, facilitating and synthesizing diverse perspectives and disciplines to better understand and communicate the macro forces that are transforming our lives, our organizations, and our communities. Before joining IFTF full-time in 2012, Dylan had a previous career in media production, working closely with innovative tech companies and nonprofits to better tell their stories. Dylan has a BA in Psychology and Comparative Religion from Bryn Athyn College, and has helped dozens of world-class universities, corporations and civic organizations to strategically explore the future landscape in his decade of experience at IFTF. Dylan’s original design framework, Systems Mythology, has been taught to thousands of students, executives, and foresight practitioners around the world, and formally recognized by the Association of Professional Futurists.

Toshi leads IFTF’s Emerging Media Lab (EML), where he explores the implications of the rapidly evolving technologies and platforms that transform human communication. He has worked on a wide range of cutting-edge experiential media projects utilizing interactive and immersive technologies such as A/R and V/R. Under his direction, the EML serves as a prototyping studio, an independent research group, and an active participant in the continually evolving relationship between humans and the sophisticated media systems they create.

Toshi’s work explores not only the direct applications of emerging technologies but also the wider implications and impact on individuals, organizations, and society at large. Prior to joining IFTF, Toshi served as media technology consultant for famed futurist Ray Kurzweil, with whom he produced live VR demonstrations for the TED stage and co-directed the feature-length documentary “The Singularity is Near” based on Kurzweil’s best-selling book. Toshi studied film at Mass College of Art and Design and religion at Bryn Athyn College.

Sami Makelainen has been involved in shaping the online and mobile worlds since the 1990s. From building the early online commerce and banking platforms in North America and Europe, Sami then spent several years with various aspects of the mobile business, from application development to network systems research for Nokia in Finland.

Since 2009, Sami has lived in Australia and until recently worked for Telstra Corporation in various roles spanning from mobile subject matter expert, CEO Communications to Innovation Program Management. He also created and led the Strategic Foresight practice for several years, focusing on long-term technology and related trends and how they impact the business, industry, and society at large.

Sami holds an MSc degree in Computer Science from the University of Helsinki. His current research interests include the impact of automation on skill degradation, complex systems, and architecting for resilience.

Research Director Sara Skvirsky brings a diverse background in the fields of education, community organizing, and social justice advocacy to her work at Institute for the Future. Passionate about bringing the tools and methodologies of foresight to individuals, communities, and organizations, Sara developed and launched IFTF Foresight Essentials in 2014, with the inauguration of its flagship training and toolkit. She has gone on to become the program’s lead instructor, spearheading the group’s digital transformation and experimenting with new formats for participant engagement with futures thinking. In addition to that role, Sara has spent much of the past decade leading IFTF’s future of learning research, working with governments, educational institutions, corporations, foundations, and nonprofits globally to understand the shifting landscapes of education and work. She has delivered keynotes around the world. Before arriving at IFTF Sara lived and worked in Latin America and Spain for many years, where she worked to establish a youth leadership and community development programming. She holds a B.A. in Latin American Studies and Spanish from Oberlin College.

Costs

  • $950

Space is limited. Early registration is recommended.

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