AI-bias bounty hunters, climate change urgency and a drastic reduction in South Africa’s middle class are among the trends analysts have picked up for the year ahead.
With the global digital landscape in a constant state of flux, trend analysts are able to pick up and dissect new trends almost daily. This week, entrepreneurial learning platform, Heavy Chef, hosted an event that shared curious insights about world.
Dion Chang from Flux Trends, talk was titled “The state we are in”. Chang’s presentation examined how the world could navigate an altered landscape.
Chang said the population was suffering from “worry burnout” which he defined as being at a heightened level of threat and fear, caused by the pandemic. Due to this, people have experienced a lot of tension.“People are snapping more quickly. Be nice because everyone is a bit stressed and we are all suffering from worry burnout”, he said.
He predicted the following trends in different sectors:
Technology
The pandemic made the world advance by a time span of five years, in just one year.
Chang said brands were now spending money to be part of the metaverse – defined as a simulated digital environment that uses augmented reality, virtual reality (VR), and blockchain, along with concepts from social media.
“We are seeing big money being spent on metaverse platforms. Interestingly, governments are joining the metaverse and creating a virtual embassy with digitised public services,” he said.
Consumers are relying more on artificial intelligence – technological systems performing tasks that people usually would. AI bounty hunters are in demand to eliminate snags in algorithms with a bias that could cost companies and brands money. Virtual personal assistants such as Siri has been accused of having a male bias while Amazon’s Alexa reportedly suggested a 10-year-old girl play with a live wall socket.
body.copy...: “When someone can detect an AI bias in an algorithm, they can earn up to $3 000 for doing that,” said Chang.
Retail and marketing
The contactless economy such as self service stores and till points are here to stay. Countries like South Korea have proposed options where they have a completely contactless society. Chang said they were actively encouraging this, especially in stores. “Additionally, people want services delivered quicker. Some countries have 10-minute grocery delivery services. When people want things, they want it now,” he explained. He added: “There are even algorithmic food services curated by trends that are going viral. Be careful what you share online because people might be eating it next.”
Economy
The pandemic has further increased the chasm between rich and poor as a chunk of the middle class has disappeared, Chang said.
“In South Africa, the middle class declined from 6.1 million to 2.7 million people. The knock-on effects of this mean we are seeing an increase in payday loans,” he said.
He added: “Digital loan sharks prey on countries or communities that don’t have financial literacy.”
Natural world
Climate change has now become a climate catastrophe or climate emergency. Chang said it has become so serious that it was now a threat to national security.
He added: “We are seeing the most extreme changes in weather like never before. Some countries are experiencing climate lockdowns to ease the side effects of what climate change causes.
“We are also seeing climate refugees – people who can’t stand living in countries experiencing severe climate change.”
Diplomacy
Technology and cyber warfare have increased specifically in the geopolitical space. Chang said hybrid warfare now exists. “We are seeing warfare in law, refugees and politics,” he said.
He added: “Another trend in diplomacy are four day work weeks. At Flux we are trialling it and we can see that optimum focus time is six hours a day, four days a week.”