LSN : News : Foresight Friday: Dan Hastings, deputy foresight editor

Rabbit’s R1 is a smartphone challenger with AI powers

Rabbit R1, US

US – At the Consumer Electronics Show 2024 in Las Vegas, US start-up Rabbit unveiled the R1, a palm-sized artificial intelligence (AI) assistant designed to challenge the dominance of smartphones. This pocket companion simplifies tasks and executes complex actions in response to natural language commands. It can book flights, edit images and more.

Rabbit focuses on rethinking digital habits, and encourages users to break free from app-based smartphone operating systems for a more intuitive and user-friendly experience. Unlike traditional Large Language Models (LLMs), Rabbit’s AI – a Large Action Model (LAM) – not only generates text but also performs actions on behalf of users such as grocery shopping or booking tickets.

The device functions independently, eliminating the need for a smartphone connection. This innovation is designed to reshape how we interact with technology and could challenge the app-centric smartphone paradigm – simplifying the user experience in a tech world dominated by complexity.

Strategic opportunity

The tech products of tomorrow will solve multiple problems at once. Businesses should follow Rabbit’s example and consider how they can integrate features to mitigate the burden of everyday tasks that are contributing to a decline in mental wellbeing

Yalan Dan’s First Aid Kit uses 3D-printed joints to mend broken furniture

Furniture First Aid Kit by Yalan Dan, UK

UK – In a bid to address the issue of quick turnover of furniture, University of the Arts London graduate Yalan Dan has designed the Furniture First Aid Kit (FFA). Inspired by stooping and skip diving, this creative solution takes the shape of a 3D-printed bioplastic joint kit to mend, repurpose or build furniture.

The kit was imagined as a thought-provoking tool inviting consumers to rescue their furniture instead of routinely discarding and replacing faulty items. The easy-to-use and intuitive tools include four shapes of joints crafted to fit into different angles. The joints are 3D-printed with bioplastic in vivid red and orange hues. ‘[The FFA is] inspired by medical first aid kits – most are bright red, enabling people to see them quickly,’ Dan told Dezeen. ‘At the same time, it is an eye-catching cue to differentiate the restored furniture.’

Yalan Dan’s innovation diverges from the norm by combining functionality with an eye-catching design, prompting a re-evaluation of disposable culture. It encapsulates a fresh direction in design thinking, aligning with the rise of Adaptive Furniture we featured in Future Forecast 2024: Design.

Strategic opportunity

This DIY concept resonates with growing eco-conscious mindsets, transforming waste into worth. As a business, aim to educate and give consumers tools to empower circular habits

Foresight Friday: Dan Hastings, deputy foresight editor

Community Commerce visuals by Pitch Studios for The Future Laboratory

Every Friday, we offer an end-of-week wrap-up of the topics, issues, ideas and virals we’re all talking about. This week, deputy foresight editor Dan Hastings dives into the right to be forgotten by the internet, haute couture baby robots and Martha Stewart.

: Maryland could soon become the second state in the US to protect the rights, privacy and profits of child influencers. According to Teen Vogue, the drafted bill would include the 'right to be forgotten', which means child influencers could ‘request the permanent deletion of the content’ they appear in, forcing the social media platform the content lives on to get rid of all footage. At Web Summit 2023, many influencers questioned the ownership of their digital footprint.

: I was at the NRF 2024 Retail’s Big Show last week in New York, where the iconic Martha Stewart had a lot to say about the state of the advertising industry. ‘Back in the day, Kmart spent £16m [$20m, €18m] on ads, and we built a £789m [$1bn, €923m] brand in two years. Now, it’s nothing compared to what people have to do to build a gigantic business,’ she said. ‘Social media has become the it factor to popularise a brand and products. That’s why I posed in a bathing suit [in Sports Illustrated] at my age. And it worked!' As Gen Z would say: ‘Mother ate this.’

: In other news, Schiaparelli sent a robot baby doll covered in old flip phones and chips down the couture runway in Paris, New Yorkers could soon legally grow their own marijuana at home, and billionaires are asking lawyers to create legal entities so that frozen, deceased rich people can leave their fortunes to their future revived selves.

: Speaking of greed, five of the legacy newspapers and magazines I consulted to write this column are either experiencing layoffs or strikes. There would be no LS:N Global without the work of all the amazing journalists currently losing their jobs due to the collapse of the media’s business model.

Quote of the week

‘I’m always looking for characters because there’s not much that I can play with this stupid accent. I can’t play a scientist or be in Schindler's List. My acting jobs are kind of limited’

Sofia Vergara told the Los Angeles Times

Stat: UK on the verge of becoming a burnt-out nation

Email is Dead exhibition by Design Museum, London, UK

UK – New research from Mental Health UK, outlined in The Burnout Report 2024, reveals that one in five UK workers (20%) has taken leave in the past year due to poor mental health caused by workplace pressure and stress. The report, released in January 2024, warns that the UK is teetering on the brink of becoming a burnt-out nation, with 91% of adults admitting to experiencing high or extreme stress levels in 2023.

Brian Dow, CEO of Mental Health UK, urged the government to initiate a national conversation addressing the complex causes of work-related mental health challenges. The survey of 2,060 adults identifies factors contributing to burnout, including high workloads (54%), unpaid overtime (45%) and feelings of isolation at work (42%).

Despite 57% feeling comfortable discussing stress with managers, 35% are uncomfortable about voicing such concerns. Only 29% report workplace plans for spotting chronic stress signs, emphasising employers’ need to prioritise mental and physical health. Factors that may reduce stress include a healthy work-life balance (56%), supportive management (43%) and workplace mental health training (24%).

As part of our Work States Futures macrotrend report, we analysed how workplaces must adapt to mental healthcare to retain talent, especially among younger employees.

Strategic opportunity

Employers should consider developing and implementing ambitious mental health policies that go beyond tokenism, encompassing training, prevention, intervention and support mechanisms