Autonomy Trends in Automation and AI

GLOBAL TREND BRIEFING · OCTOBER 2016 | AUTONOMANIA!: PPT EDITION
O C T O B E R 2 0 1 6
G L O B A L T R E N D B R I E F I N G
Automated solutions are
enveloping the lives of
consumers. For brands,
it's serve or get served!
AUTONOMANIA!

Self-driving
taxis roam the
streets of
Singapore and
Pittsburgh...

Yuneec's
affordable
'selfie drones'
follow and film
their owners...

Nike has given
the world self-
lacing
sneakers...

French farmers
are followed
through fields
by Naïo
Technologies'
helper bots...

Nissan's
autonomous
desk chairs tuck
themselves in...

OH SH*T –
IT'S HAPPENING!
New technologies are reaching consumers sooner than
expected. The autonomous innovations that experts
were forecasting for 2020, 2040 and beyond?
They're already here.

Robots working in retail.
Self-driving cars.
AI-powered chatbots.
2016 has seen many consumer-facing
autonomous services hit a tipping point.
These technologies are already reframing
your customers’ expectations.

The break-neck automation of tasks once performed
by people – by intelligent software and physical
infrastructure – will bring new expectations of
efficiency, value, convenience and delight.

In world of consumer AUTONOMANIA,
it'll be sink or serve for brands.

WHY NOW?
Three drivers bringing AUTONOMANIA to life.

You must SCAN far and
wide! You must ADAPT!
You must APPLY!
FEAR FADES
D R I V E R O N E
New technologies create new concerns.
Yet consumers’ concerns around new technologies will
melt away once they experience the cheaper / faster /
easier benefits it brings.

RESEARCH & RAPID
DEVELOPMENT
D R I V E R T W O
AI (and its key ingredients) is the hot field for every
post-grad, startup and tech giant.

BRAVE…
BUREAUCRATS?
D R I V E R T H R E E
For every public sector institution that stifles new
technology to protect jobs or placate citizens, there’s
a local authority that loosens legislation
or provides grants for investment or headlines.

Don’t just sit
there! Take
inspiration
from the
following five
trends…

1. AUTONOMY > MONOTONY
2. AI DESIGNED
3. MOTIVATED MINDLESSNESS
4. CLEVER COMMERCE
5. SOC-AI-L SKILLS
Five trends bringing
AUTONOMANIA to life!

Consumers will embrace brands that free them from
tedious tasks and allow them to focus
on what matters.
AUTONOMY > MONTONY
A U T O N O M A N I A T R E N D # 1

The tasks that consumers are desperate to
outsource to intelligent technology?
The ones that are no fun! Intelligent products
and services will find favor by eradicating
lifestyle MONOTONY through AUTONOMY.
W H Y N O W
Affluent, hyper-
connected consumers
are SLAVES to tedium...

World’s first robot lawyer repeals
64% of parking fines
AUTONOMY > MONOTONY
DoNotPay

The Roomba has been finding its way
around homes for over 15 years
AUTONOMY > MONOTONY
iRobot

Affordable robot vacuum cleaner
launched in China
AUTONOMY > MONOTONY
Xiaomi

Unique users of digital virtual assistants
are set to rise from 390 million in 2015 to
1.8 billion worldwide by 2021.
TRACTICA, AUGUST 2016

Travel app recommends destinations and
plots the fastest route between them
AUTONOMY > MONOTONY
Google Trips

If you want to
improve
consumers' lives
and find your way
to their hearts,
hunt out tedium
and eliminate it.
N E X T

http://trendwatching.com/premium/

Creativity, humankind's proudest trait,
is being automated.
AI DESIGNED

W H Y N O W
Humans have enjoyed a
long reign as the planet’s
only creative class…
Now, it’s become clear that intelligent software
can assist (perhaps outmatch) humans creatively.
Expect skepticism and excitement as
'artificial' does battle with 'artisanal'.

AI used to curate art from gallery
collection
AI DESIGNED
Recognition, Tate
and Microsoft

Trailer for science fiction movie edited
by IBM Watson
AI DESIGNED
20th Century Fox
and IBM

Algorithms generate a completely new
'Rembrandt' artwork
AI DESIGNED
ING

Beer recipes perfected through algorithm
that processes customer feedback
AI DESIGNED
IntelligentX Brewing
Company

ING’s Rembrandt
tests our notion
of originality, but
the implications
of AI DESIGNED
concern more
than art…
N E X T

Hand-crafted =
‘better’.
But will that
assumption hold
if / when AI can
create better
recipes than
human experts?
N E X T

Thanks to AUTONOMANIA, mindlessness is the
new mindfulness.
MOTIVATED
MINDLESSNESS

W H Y N O W
Self-improvement:
a universal desire.
Yet willpower isn’t
always abundant.
But there’s hope! Motivation, planning and
coaching can be outsourced to AI – tech can
help consumers become who they want to be.

87% of participants in a weight loss study
with access to an automated, virtual
personal coach reported feeling guilty if
they skipped an online appointment.
CENTER FOR CONNECTED HEALTH, 2012

MOTIVATED MINDLESSNESS
Zenta
Emotion tracking wearable provides
actionable insights for improved mental
wellbeing

Vi
Device uses AI to provide personalized
fitness plans and adapt workouts in
real-time

Intelligent assistant helps users form
healthier eating habits
AVA

Wearables ecosystem provides AI
coaching
Boltt

AI-powered life coach motivates users
pursue their career goals
BOLDR

Will people really
learn from an
AI-powered bot?
Yes – if they see
results.
N E X T

Once people see
AUTONOMANIA
making others
healthier and
happier, they'll be
quick to jump on
board too.
N E X T

http://trendwatching.com/events/

Retailers beware; shoppers are outsourcing
their smarts!
CLEVER COMMERCE

W H Y N O W
Digital technologies
gave online shoppers
superpowers.
Customer crave knowledge, choice, transparency
and relevance. Now, access to truly intelligent
services will provide more powerful, intuitive routes
to the best products, plus access to the best price.

AI solution reads product reviews so
shoppers don't have to
CLEVER COMMERCE
FeltSo

Developments in image recognition
provide new forms of product discovery
CLEVER COMMERCE
Zilingo

CLEVER COMMERCE
Paribus
Service auto-files price match
guarantees for users so they can shop
carefree

Insurance company's virtual assistant
capable of providing rapid quotes
CLEVER COMMERCE
Insurify

CLEVER
COMMERCE is
both the easiest
and the hardest
AUTONOMANIA
trend to apply.
N E X T

Remember:
proactively offering
customers savings
– as Paribus do –
can lead to
increased trust and
more frequent
spending.
N E X T

Today, making connections is easy.
Social skills, however, take work...
or do they?
SOC-AI-L SKILLS

W H Y N O W
Consumers can connect
with friends and strangers
at any moment.
But glowing screens buzzing with alerts can distract
individuals from deeper connections. In a time where
social skills are lacking, SOC-AI-L SKILLS that bring
people closer to others – will be welcomed.

Forget predictive text. Here comes
predictive emoji!
SOC-AI-L SKILLS
Dango

App fills spare moments with calls to
loved ones
SOC-AI-L SKILLS
SpareMin

AI-powered matchmaker automates the
online dating process
SOC-AI-L SKILLS
Bernie

Bot sends disinterested responses to
break up with people on user's behalf
SOC-AI-L SKILLS
Ghostbot

Of course, there
are some (many?)
who will find this
trend distasteful.
But remember
when there was
stigma attached
to online dating?
N E X T

GO TO:
trendwatching.com/premium

There's still a long
way to go.
In truth,
AUTONOMANIA
is just getting
started.

But... this trend will
pick up faster than
many believe, due
to the exponential
nature of the
technologies
at play.

In January 2016, there were 135 'skills' (third
party capabilities) in the Amazon Alexa voice
app store. By June 2016 there were 1,000, and
by September this had expanded to 3,000.
AMAZON, SEPTEMBER 2016

Tesla collected 780 million miles of
driving data in 18 months from its users'
cars. In May 2016, it announced it was
adding 1 million miles every 10 hours.
MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW, MAY 2016

AUTONOMANIA will
be a victim of its
own success.
‘Intelligent’ services
will become banal.
Your job? Apply new
technologies
to serve age-old
human needs and
wants.

See these trends in the context of our
Trend Framework.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
C O N C L U S I O N

Spotting trends? It all starts with
innovations.
Start watching the innovations –
products, services, campaigns –
flooding into the market now. Draw
lines between similar innovations,
and interrogate them for the new
expectations they’re helping to
create.
How do we process and
contextualize the thousands of
innovations we spot? It helps to have
a Framework…
T H E B I G G E R P I C T U R E

16 mega-trends that provide structure and context when
tracking innovation. When a cluster of innovations
don’t fit neatly under one or more of our trends, we know
we’re on the verge of identifying something new!
The Trend
Framework
T H E B I G G E R P I C T U R E

Unlock full access to our
Trend Framework,
130+ trends and 16,000
innovations…
trendwatching.com/premium

Autonomy Trends in Automation and AI

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