This text discusses the use of AI in identifying trends and cultural shifts. The author and Sarah DaVanzo used NWO.ai’s AI to analyze Meta Trends and found that the AI’s rankings differed significantly from the human rankings, suggesting that what humans deemed important may not actually be the case. They then conducted experiments to identify overlooked trends using AI, but found that the AI was not able to identify Meta Trends. However, the AI was successful in identifying and ranking micro-trends, uncovering 1,062 human-overlooked trends. The experiments showed that humans excel in sensemaking and defining cultural shifts, while AI excels in discovery and inspiration by analyzing unstructured data. The optimal cultural intelligence system combines the strengths of both humans and AI.
| Signal | Change | 10y horizon | Driving force |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI ranking differs from human ranking | Shift in perception of important trends | More influential cultural shifts identified | Desire for more accurate trend identification |
| Importance of nuanced cultural shifts | Recognition of missing trends in Meta Trends | Identification and highlighting of overlooked trends | Concerns about bias and scarcity of risk in trend forecasting |
| Experiment with AI Meta Trend identification | AI unable to identify overlooked Meta Trends | AI clusters general topics rather than trends | Limitations in AI’s ability to spot trends |
| Experiment with AI Micro-Trend identification | AI identifies overlooked micro-trends from industry reports | AI-identified trends discovered through NLP and data analysis | AI’s ability to process and analyze unstructured data |
| Humans outperform AI in decoding the zeitgeist | Humans excel at sensemaking and defining cultural shifts | Humans bring context and make non-obvious connections | Humans’ ability to synthesize data and pattern match |
| AI excels at processing and analyzing unstructured data | AI is faster and more efficient at finding weak and emerging signals | AI’s superpower is discovery and inspiration | AI’s ability to analyze diverse data sets at scale |
| AI is a crucial fixture in cultural intelligence | AI is a necessary component in successful cultural intelligence systems | AI provides precise rankings, detects signal vs. noise, and delivers inspiration | Recognition of AI’s role in cultural intelligence |
| Optimal cultural intelligence combines humans and machines | Humans and AI work together in an orchestrated manner | Humans define themes, AI prioritizes trends and sources micro-trends | Recognition of the strengths and weaknesses of humans and AI |
| Other trends are unreported, unidentified, and undiscovered | Existence of trends not covered in industry reports or Meta Trend analysis | There are trends yet to be discovered | Potential for ongoing trend identification and analysis |