Society currently faces many complex and significant challenges, dilemmas that lack straightforward solutions and are deeply interconnected. These problems demand a transformative approach that involves reevaluating people’s values, beliefs, attitudes, and behavior. Amidst these ongoing challenges, there is a collective hint of pessimism regarding society’s perception to effectively overcome them.

To navigate this era of transformative change, it becomes increasingly critical to engage in dialogue and define future goals. However, the process of generating specific visions and objectives for the future currently lacks guidance. This project seeks to bridge this gap by integrating futuring methods, creativity, co-creation, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI has the ability to enhance the abilities of people in this process. Through this innovative approach, the aim is to empower collective envisioning and goal-setting, enabling individuals and organizations to actively explore and shape desirable futures. More positive images of the future can motivate the broader collective as well.

The initial phase of the project involved an extensive exploration of existing literature on co-creation, future visions, the impact of positive future visions, creativity, and AI. In-depth interviews provided valuable insights from each distinct aspect: creating art with AI, facilitating co-creation, and developing future visions. Furthermore, a cultural probe shed light on the aspects individuals require more guidance in when contemplating the future. The findings underscored the relative ease with which people envisioned negative futures, and potential future inventions, while demonstrating a lesser emphasis on the underlying rationale and societal value of these inventions. Additionally, the perceived difficulty level varied considerably, and the outcomes were diverse. In this regard, the utilization of tools can prove beneficial, facilitating smoother and more efficient conversations while helping individuals initiate and navigate discussions with greater ease.

The accumulated basis of knowledge formed a buildable concept, applying the structure of the creative facilitation phases: problem, idea, and solution finding. This buildable concept was tested through four short sessions. Adding and altering its basis to establish the Minimal Viable Method (MVM) and expand to longer sessions. All sessions were conducted in a real setting with a diverse range of topics relevant to the problem owner(s), allowing for continuous improvement and addressing specific research questions during each session. Participants actively engaged in providing feedback and evaluating their experience based on predefined design criteria.

The end result of this project was a Version 1 (V1) design of a toolkit to guide people through a co-creation session using AI to create future visions. The toolkit allows participants to focus on their specific goals and type of futures, it is designed with a facilitator in mind to guide the process. Although, the toolkit includes explanations and guiding signs usable by people without knowledge of these elements. The toolkit includes underlayments, a card deck; a professional and newbie version, different inspiration museum topic sets, and a more elaborate optional manual to guide new users using AI, creating future visions, and vision statements. The toolkit is available through the website: https://future-framing.nl.

This project adds to the current literature by providing a new method to envision the future in co-creation. Evaluation results from these sessions validate the positive impact of the method on participants through specific design criteria. The majority of participants expressed interest in joining another workshop. Additionally, it finds a general interest of people to acquiring skills to use AI. The design goal, to spark empowerment and ownership in participants while creating their own desired future vision in a co-creation session, is successfully implemented with this project. The findings suggest future development of the V1 toolkit and method can further improve experience and outcome. This correlates with future developments with AI, that shape both too.