AI, Design, and Education: Expert Perspectives on Future Trends
Published on November 22, 2024 | by DSGN arcHive
We caught up with futurist and technologist Lindsey McInerney for a sneak peek into the future.
How will Artificial Intelligence shape our future? This question feels more pressing than ever as AI continues to transform nearly every aspect of our lives—from how we work and learn to how we create and connect. At the Design Futures Forum 2024, part of Singapore Design Week, we had the privilege of hearing from Lindsey McInerney, a globally sought-after technologist, futurist, and educator. Recognised as one of Thinkers50 Radar’s rising stars and celebrated for her influence in the metaverse and digital innovation, Lindsey offered thought-provoking insights into AI’s rapidly evolving role. Her accolades also including being named a ‘Top Player of the Metaverse’, underscore her visionary contributions to the tech world.
Held at the Victoria Theatre and the Arts House, the forum provided an exciting glimpse into how AI is revolutionising our world. Following the event, we had the opportunity to chat with Lindsey for a deeper dive into the topic. What we learned was truly eye-opening, and we’re thrilled to share all the key takeaways with you. Keep reading for the details!
How Artificial Intelligence will shape our future
1. You've spent your career helping people navigate new technologies—how do you envision the role of AI evolving in the next decade?
Lindsey McInerney: All of us, whether we realize it yet or not, will be living and working alongside Artificial Intelligence and large language models in the near future. They will be supporting, assisting and augmenting our lives on both a personal and professional level. How quickly this technology is moving and how seismic it is will completely change our future as humans. Like many technologies before it, we’ll grapple with some of the challenges that arise, but if we get things right, we stand to enter the most creatively accelerated era as humans yet.
2. When it comes to younger generations, what do you think is the most critical aspect of AI that they need to understand early on?
Lindsey McInerney: Younger generations already understand these technologies in many ways better than older generations. We can learn a lot from them. Young people get technology really early on and aren’t hindered by the way things have been done previously so their thinking is much more expansive and dynamic. Like big shifts in previous technologies like for example the internet, we need to work to consider what its effects on young people might be. One thing I think about often is which part of our brains or minds might atrophy in the face of engaging with LLM’s every day, and which ones I might be okay with losing.
For example, my mind used to have an incredible topographical map and compass built in. You could drop me in a new city, at a time before internet and mobile phones, and within a day or two, I’d understand how to navigate this new place, having built a map in my mind. Nowadays, I no longer have that ability the same way that I used to because I’ve become reliant on digital mapping technologies like Google Maps, Waze, City Mapper etc. I like to consider what parts of my mind AI tools may allow me to relax, and whether or not I am okay with allowing those muscles to weaken.
3. As AI-driven design becomes more integrated, what new responsibilities do you think designers have in shaping an ethical, inclusive future?
Lindsey McInerney: Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should, and everyone that works with AI will be responsible for asking themselves that question. Becoming grounded in ethics, morality, and using our humanity to interrogate choices to insure they’re truly inclusive will be part of how we partner well with machines.
4. In terms of education, what fundamental skills should we be emphasizing to prepare students for an AI-driven future?
Lindsey McInerney: I’m a big fan of a liberal arts education to best prepare people for the future. Because of the way AI works, we’re going to need more dreamers, imagineers, creators, and inspired minds. The place we best exercise those muscles is in the practice of the humanities. It’s also the humanities disciplines that we’ll need more people practiced in; philosophy, design, history, psychology, policy, literature, etc. These will give people the best chance of partnering well with machines. Anybody will be able to code with the assistance of AI. So in the future it will not be a matter of who can build it, but who can imagine it or dream it. Einstein famously said that ‘imagination is more important than knowledge’ and this next era, where we have more knowledge at our fingertips than ever, that will be more true than ever.
5. As AI continues to advance, which professions do you think will remain essential, and which ones do you foresee being phased out or significantly transformed over the coming years?
Lindsey McInerney: Every profession is going to change alongside the advancement of AI, similar to how there aren’t too many professions that look the same way that they did prior to the internet. If we get things right, I imagine we’ll enter an era of advanced human creativity where boring and mundane tasks are not ones we have to focus on anymore, and instead, we get to lean in to the creative parts of our jobs.
Skills and qualities that make certain professions resilient to AI disruption:
Curiosity, flexible, outside the box thinking, the ability to embrace change and think big will be key.
6. How can designers ensure inclusivity when creating AI-driven products and experiences, especially as the gap between the digitally connected and disconnected grows?
Lindsey McInerney: Good designers won’t choose to build in AI just because they can, but because it serves the end users of whatever it is they’re building. They’ll also interrogate whether the AI tool they’re using was built inclusively, and consider who it might have left out or not considered in its creation. And it’s this thinking that will leverage AI output, but add human input to drive better results and outcomes.
7. Lastly, what practical steps can parents, educators, and mentors take today to set the stage for a future where young people not only adapt to AI but lead the way in its responsible development?
Lindsey McInerney: Allow young people to play, experiment, be curious, and create. Young people are so much less inhibited than we are, and we stand to learn a lot from them. I love listening to my friends children use Alexa for example. They think of ways of using a smart home assistant that I would never have considered. LLMs will be no different.
Foundational skills essential for young people to thrive in an AI-driven world: The ability to think independently, collaboratively, and critically will be the kind of skills that young people need to thrive in an AI driven world.
And that’s a wrap! Huge thanks to Lindsey for sharing her incredible insights with us. Curious to hear more from her? Don’t miss her 2023 TEDxAthens talk, “The Return to the Humanities in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”.
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