We are in the midst of a technological upheaval. Generative AI models are transforming how we work, create, and communicate — even, perhaps, what it means to be human.

Are you ready for an AI-enabled future?

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

In three weekly 2-hour sessions, go beyond the current headlines to explore potential short-, mid-, and long-term possibilities of AI. The course will keep you current on what’s happening today, give you hands-on experience with generative AI forecasting, and teach you a host of IFTF’s best methods for envisioning emerging risks and transformations.

For over 55 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.


Training Dates

Tuesday, June 11, 2024 at 8:00-10:00am PDT | 11:00am-1:00pm EDT | 5:00-7:00 CEST

Tuesday, June 18, 2024 at 8:00-10:00am PDT | 11:00am-1:00pm EDT | 5:00-7:00 CEST

Tuesday, June 25, 2024 at 8:00-10:00am PDT | 11:00am-1:00pm EDT | 5:00-7:00 CEST

Enroll today.

Wednesday, Sept 4, 2024 at 8:00-10:00am PDT | 11:00am-1:00pm EDT | 5:00-7:00 CEST

Wednesday, Sept 11, 2024 at 8:00-10:00am PDT | 11:00am-1:00pm EDT | 5:00-7:00 CEST

Wednesday, Sept 18, 2024 at 8:00-10:00am PDT | 11:00am-1:00pm EDT | 5:00-7:00 CEST

Enroll today.

The details
  • Horizon 1 Session: What we see today
    Familiarize yourself with the latest in generative AI. Understand today’s early adopters and signals of change. Create your own AI-driven forecast.
  • Horizon 2 Session: Envisioning the next 5 years
    Prepare for mid-term disruption. Widen your lense to anticipate social, economic, political, and organizational change.
  • Horizon 3 Session: Imagining the next 10 years and beyond
    Push beyond legacy assumptions to forecast truly provocative positive and negative possibilities for a topic relevant for your organization.
With this course, you will:

  • Refine your strategic assessment of opportunities and risks that AI poses for your organization, sector, or community.

  • Learn to use IFTF’s Systems Mythology framework to build long-term insight and assess the possible roles, applications and user contexts that AI will serve as it integrates with existing systems.

  • Develop scenarios and applications for possible AI-enabled futures.

  • Challenge your assumptions about what AI is, and what it isn’t.

  • Explore emerging use cases, capabilities, and critical dilemmas with IFTF’s leading AI researchers.

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

  • Gain practical experience with six different forecasting techniques, so you can develop more informed strategic perspectives.

  • Enjoy a guided, hands-on session with generative AI tools, designed to help you understand the medium’s affordances.

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

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

All costs given in USD.

Space is limited. Early registration is recommended.

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IFTF provided great instruction, an abundance of knowledge, resources and readings, and amazing videos …I also really appreciate the sense of community building fostered [in this course], without any forced ‘networking’ interactions, I felt like I was in the community of people who wanted to learn foresight applications for AI. Loved it! Ryoko Imai, R&D at a Tech Company