AUTONOMANIA: Chatbots, AI, self-driving cars and more!

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,AUGUST2016


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 A U T O N O M A N I A T R E N D # 2


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

A U T O N O M A N I A T R E N D # 3


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.

CENTERFORCONNECTEDHEALTH,2012



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 A U T O N O M A N I A T R E N D # 4


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 A U T O N O M A N I A T R E N D # 5


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,SEPTEMBER2016


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.

MITTECHNOLOGYREVIEW,MAY2016


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

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AUTONOMANIA: Chatbots, AI, self-driving cars and more!