How Tech Shapes Our Future

AI is already an important part of many people‘s daily lives. But imagine how it would look like if AI took over the world, becoming an integral and unavoidable part of our society. How would this new reality look like and how would it shape our relationships? Through discussions and creative activities we will speculate about how AI could shape our future.

Learning goals

• To discover how we experience AI.
• To speculate on how AI could shape our future relationships.
• To identify the challenges and opportunities of AI.

Duration

• 150 minutes (depending on the size of the group), including a 10-minute break

Pre-Defined Session Topic Definition

Artificial Intelligence (AI): This isn’t just about shiny humanoid robots! There are many applications of AI in day-to-day life that have been used for decades. Where you may have seen AI includes (but is not limited to): automatic translation of languages, advanced web search engines (e.g., Google Search), recommendation systems (used by YouTube, Amazon, Netflix, etc.), virtual assistants (e.g. Siri and Alexa), facial recognition (e.g. Apple's Face ID), generative or creative tools (e.g. ChatGPT, Dall-e, etc.), autonomous vehicles (e.g. drones, self-driving cars), etc.

Outline

Part 1: Opening and Spectogram / 20 minutes

Purpose: To orient the participants into the session, so they understand the overall focus and ground rules. This is also the time for the participants to introduce themselves, and become more comfortable with the group. They also begin exploring the topic.

• Introduce yourself and what this session is.

• Spectogram Activity:

  • Use tape or another indicator to “draw” a line down the room. One end should have a sign to say “totally agree”, the other end “totally disagree”. The space in between is the spectrum of answers, and the middle might be “undecided” or “neutral”.

    

  • Read one statement below at a time and ask participants to position themselves alongside the spectrum line, based on to what extent they agree or disagree with the statement:

    • “I’m exposed to AI on a daily basis.”
    • “AI can help us to solve the problems of tomorrow.”

  • After each statement and positioning, ask a few participants to describe why they chose their positions.

    • Use this activity as an introduction to the teens, so ask them to say their name when you call on them to explain their thoughts.

  • At the end, if anyone hasn‘t spoken yet, ask them to introduce themselves, too.

• Facilitator tips:

  • You don't have to use tape or signs, just explain that one side of the room is “totally agree”, the other end “totally disagree”. If you use signs we recommend hanging them on the wall.

  • When you ask the participants to describe why they chose their positions, be sure to select different participants each time (to get the most people to talk) and pick on people on opposite ends (more interesting that way).

  • The point of this activity is not about right/wrong answers, it is really to get the participants to start thinking about the topic and become comfortable sharing with the group.

  • You can ask participants more statements:

    • “AI is better at solving our problems than we are.”
    • “Individuals have the power to reshape AI technology.”
    • “AI technology serves humans.”*

• Go over the ground rules of the session. Feel free to add your own and ask the group if they’d like to add something. A few simple ground rules we would suggest are:

  • We respect each other.
  • We listen and give space to others.
  • Everything is voluntary.

Part 2: Warm-Up Discussion / 15 minutes

Purpose: For the participants to become comfortable with one another and begin defining and exploring a topic that will be deepened later in the session. Also to realize the full range of what the given topic contains, especially in the context of our daily lives.

• [5 minutes] Instruct the participants to turn to the person next to them and in pairs (groups of 2) discuss the following questions:

  • “What is AI?”
  • “Where do you come across AI in your life?”

• [10 minutes] Then as a whole group, discuss the points together. Write the keywords, points, etc. onto a board or flip chart to refer back to throughout the session.

• Facilitator tips:

  • We don’t need a “definition” per se, so here the participants can come up with examples of the technology to help illustrate the topic.
  • If needed, you can add important missing points to their topic, which we have added above in this document in the section called “Pre-defined session topic definition”.

Part 3: Relationships of the Future / 50 minutes

Purpose: This speculative activity will reveal how much participants know and suspect about the pre-defined topic in the context of “relationships”, and will reflect their perceptions and predictions of the near future (2030).

• [3 minutes] Present the following scenario to the group to set the scene:

  • “A group of your friends woke up with amnesia in the year 2030, in which time AI has become an integral part of our everyday lives and relationships.”
  • “You need to explain to your friends how relationships have changed throughout the years with the influence of AI.”

• [5 minutes] Imagine together as a group:

  • “Why has AI become an inevitable part of our lives and relationships? How did it happen?”

• Facilitator tip: This activity is meant to briefly invite the participants to think speculatively. They can change their minds and ideas later on, no problem. The group does not need to agree on a single scenario—rather the sharing of ideas can help everyone warm up.

• [2 minutes] Briefly go over the next steps of the activity so that the participants know what to expect.

  • Participants will be split into groups of approx 3-4 people.
  • Each group will receive an activity card with further instructions.
  • Groups will discuss the questions on the activity card.
  • The output of this activity will be that each group creates an object related to the scenario. The object (which can be writing, poem, poster, collage, 3D object, etc.) should help explain to your friends how AI has changed relationships.
  • Later, groups will share their objects in a role-play scenario.

• [40 minutes] Put participants into groups (approx. 3-4 people each) and distribute the activity card to each group. Groups begin discussing and creating together.

• Facilitator tips:

  • Check in with each group periodically to make sure they are progressing. Make sure the groups are discussing and creating the object, and are communicating openly. Also be sure to anchor them to the timeline of the scenario (e.g. Is this possible to happen by 2030?) so they don’t get too far into the future.
  • Keep the prompt as open as possible, but if any groups get stuck you can share some examples with them based on what they’ve already defined (you may need to ask them what they’ve discussed already before suggesting ideas). E.g. explanation and design of a new communication tool, or a comic or infographic depicting new social rules, etc.
  • This object doesn’t have to be perfect or very well designed, but the idea should be explained clearly later when they are sharing it with the group.

BREAK / 10 minutes

Part 4: Sharing of Objects in a Role Play / 40 minutes

Purpose: Participants will explain and clarify what they’ve designed and can reflect on how they imagine technology affecting society in 2030, specifically “relationships”.

• [2 minutes] Explain the sharing/role play activity to the group:

  • Instead of just sharing what the object is about, groups should to pretend they’re explaining it to their friends who just woke up with amnesia in 2030. Their “friends” can be role-played by the rest of the participants in the room.
  • Then, after the group shares, the room can to ask clarifying questions to learn more.

• [3-4 minutes per group] Each group shares their object in the role-play.

• [5 minutes per group] The rest of the participants in the room ask clarifying questions. They can ask any question, but some suggestions are:

  • “Explain the advantages and disadvantages of this new reality, in comparison to 2023?”
  • “What are the new social norms or rules related to this new reality?”
  • “How do you feel about this new reality?”

• Facilitator tips:

  • Make sure to stand off to the side during this sharing, because we do not want the participants to share to the facilitator—we want the participants to share to the other peers. We believe this body placement of the facilitator may influence how the participants express their thoughts (i.e. explaining to an authority figure may be different from explaining to their peers).

Part 5: Reflection and Closing / 15 minutes

Purpose: To reflect the activity and wrap up the session.

• [10 minutes] Ask the group to reflect on the activity, now from their own point of view,outside of role-playing. We recommend asking the following questions:

  • “Would you like to live in one of these future realities?”
  • “How do you feel about these future realities?”
  • “How likely is it that these new future realities can come true?”
  • “Do you see these speculative scenarios as something we are already experiencing (e.g. on a smaller scale)?”

• Facilitator tips:

  • This step is very important. Participants should be given space to express their own views, as they have previously shared ideas in the context of the role play.

  • If you are comfortable with it, we welcome you to take notes of the discussions and photos of the results and share them with us at youth@tacticaltech.org! Ideally the group should hold their object together, with the photo focusing just on their hands and the object—meaning the face is not seen in the picture (i.e. privacy photo that still has some charm).

    • Advanced mode: You could also have the group in the background blurred (no faces clearly shown), with the camera focused on the object in the forefront.

Variations

• This workshop can be adapted to other topics. For example, we suggest the topic of Gaming, or Influencing. You can download the outline for other below.

Materials

• (optional) Signs for Spectogram in the opening. One that says “Totally agree” another that says “Totally disagree”
• White board or flip chart
• Papers
• Pens and markers
• Activity Card: Scenario with steps printed out for each group (The activity cards for the other topics can be downloaded below.)
• Art supplies for the objects (e.g. cardboard box, glue, scissors, etc.)

Facilitator tips

• The duration of each part is an estimation. Be aware that the size of group, how active or passive participants are in the discussions or the option to include the proposed variations can impact the duration of each activity. This outline was designed for 6-16 teenage participants.

Preview the activity card

Download the activity cards and outline

Are you an educator? Do you want to use these activities as part of a lesson or a workshop? See our Further Learning materials page to find guides and mini workshops based around the What the Future Wants activities.