We are inspired by an Ikea moonshot project, using only questions to trigger a more disruptive view on future furniture.

From obedient tech tool to design buddy?

We are living through a pivotal moment for generative AI, a landscape buzzing with new tools and potential. While debates about risks and opportunities continue, we're choosing a path of learning by doing. At the Futures Academy, we're not just asking ourselves big questions; we're answering them through hands on experimentation. In this case, better understanding how AI might impact our business models, boost productivity, and create new dimensions of workplace experience and client value.

The art of prompting

One of the things we, like many of us, had to master, is the new skill of prompting, asking the right question to the AI agent. It's a delicate art, a kind of middle ground between precisely demanding what you want from the tool to get the job done, and engaging in an exploration leveraging the wisdom of the algorithm.

Command or explore?

Most of the time I use AI for some boring, repetitive tasks to gain some efficiency. But increasingly, I find myself turning to AI more as a collaborative thinking partner. I start using more questions then mere commands, to ask the AI to expand my view, to play around with new ideas, to allow the dialogue evolve organically, letting the AI challenge my thinking. That's less about commanding and more about exploring.

Create choices before you make choices

That's a fundamental reimagining of how we interact with technology, not as a passive, obedient tool, but as an active participant in our creative and analytical processes. This is why the Ikea project we will discuss today, caught my eye. They used exactly this approach to develop a new direction for furniture design. The Ikea innovation team used questioning AI as their speculative approach, to challenge their status quo and limiting beliefs. They first created more design choices and alternatives, before they would make choices about possible future directions.

From obedient tech tool to design buddy?

We are living through a pivotal moment for generative AI, a landscape buzzing with new tools and potential. While debates about risks and opportunities continue, we're choosing a path of learning by doing. At the Futures Academy, we're not just asking ourselves big questions; we're answering them through hands on experimentation. In this case, better understanding how AI might impact our business models, boost productivity, and create new dimensions of workplace experience and client value.

The art of prompting

One of the things we, like many of us, had to master, is the new skill of prompting, asking the right question to the AI agent. It's a delicate art, a kind of middle ground between precisely demanding what you want from the tool to get the job done, and engaging in an exploration leveraging the wisdom of the algorithm.

Command or explore?

Most of the time I use AI for some boring, repetitive tasks to gain some efficiency. But increasingly, I find myself turning to AI more as a collaborative thinking partner. I start using more questions than mere commands, asking AI to expand my view, play around with new ideas, and allow the dialogue to evolve organically, letting AI challenge my thinking. That's less about commanding and more about exploring.

Create choices before you make choices

That's a fundamental reimagining of how we interact with technology, not as a passive, obedient tool, but as an active participant in our creative and analytical processes. This is why the Ikea project we will discuss today caught my eye. They used exactly this approach to develop a new direction for furniture design. The Ikea innovation team used questioning AI as a speculative approach to challenge their status quo and limiting beliefs. They first created more design choices and alternatives before making choices about possible future directions.