4 things a week: AI

Did you miss me.

I took three weeks off and went on holiday. Thought maybe I would stop writing my 4 things all together, but by popular opinion it’s back!

Whilst I’m refreshed and feeling optimistic, let’s have 4 positive things this week.

1. Earth

A few weeks back I wrote a response to a talk I’d been at in which the speaker had criticised, amongst other things, carbon credits. I had disagreed with much of what they had said - you can read my response here - but on that topic, I think a lot of us are dubious. Particularly after the fiasco of the World Cup in Qatar, where Fifa promised a carbon neutral tournament and then selected a country with no existing footballing infrastructure, oversaw the building of multiple new stadiums and was left with purchasing 3.6 million carbon credits in order to ‘offset’ the impact. So far the GCC (Global Carbon Council) set up to purchase these credits has only managed to support two wind farms in Turkey and Serbia, and a hydroelectric plant in Turkey, all of which would have happened anyway.?

That being said, I do really believe in the potential for carbon credits as a legitimate form of offsetting and carbon trading and was excited to see that one of the Earthshot Prize winners, announced this week, was a carbon removal company that sells carbon credits. Boomitra , an Indian startup, utilise satellite and AI technology to measure, report, and verify soil carbon credits which are then independently verified. Hopefully we will see more companies like this proving the legitimacy of carbon offsetting. That being said - let’s hope that one day we will find ourselves in a future where we no longer have CO2e to offset.

You can find out who the other runners up and winners of the Earthshot prize are here.

2. Innovation

Humane AI Pin. So I’m sure everyone is going to be talking about this. And I said that this is a week for positive things, so I’m going to focus on the positives.?

Firstly, it’s great to be presented with an alternative to a smartphone. Yes, you could argue that the Apple Watch Series 9 Cellular is an option. You could indeed go out for the day without your phone and rely solely on the Watch, but you still need to own an iPhone to set it up. So discounting that, there really aren’t options out there except, of course, a phone that isn’t smart. But that would mean going all day without Google Maps, Reddit or LinkedIn (I know my audience ??).?

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, there are no Apps on the Pin (look at me shortening it already). So we ditch the behaviour of using individual ‘tools’ for tasks and interact with it more like a human. No more endless squares, each offering the potential to achieve something different than the last. We can just ask the AI to summarise, explore, find, capture, explain, write… This I find very interesting because it could go one of two ways. We treat it like a slave, or we rely on it for everything like a parent.?

It’s undeniable that the smartphone has fundamentally changed human behaviour. You only have to walk down the street, watch people on the underground or sit in a restaurant to see that. We can’t go more than a couple of hours without reaching for it. Yet most people wish they were less reliant on their phone.?

No doubt there will be plenty of criticism for the Human Pin. Creatives are already critiquing the design, size, weight, UX. But we have been asking for an alternative to the smartphone, and I would love to see if the Humane AI Pin is a viable alternative.?

So if you know anyone willing to gift me one… please do pass on my details ??

3. Morrama

We won an award! Our work on the wagamama takeaway packaging won Silver at the PENTAWARDS . Amazing recognition for the team. The new takeout packs launched this time last year and have removed 330 tonnes of virgin plastic from Wagamamas supply chain since then. In a first of its kind move, we re-engineered the bowls and side dishes to be produced from recycled PET instead of virgin PP (polypropylene). Swapping a softer plastic in for a more rigid one meant a year of testing and tweaking the material distribution to achieve the same performance, but the result is a beautiful dish that’s also better for the planet.

You can read more about the full development process here.

4. Inspiration

Tonight I’m going to be hosting a D&AD event called the Future of Product Design. A discussion with the amazing Priya Prakash , Eddie Hamilton and Lex Fefegha on topics from AI to the ageing population. For those of you who can’t make it, I’ll do a full write up here. So stay tuned….

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P.s. Just incase you got to the end of this and aren't sure who I am, I'm:

• an industrial designer (I design and engineer physical objects)
• founder of?Morrama | Certified B Corp
• former tutor of Design Futures at the?Royal College of Art
• co-instigator of?Design Declares