Buddy of water

Purpose and goal

Vattenjaget (The water-self) is a future prototype in the form of an AI implementation that enables us humans to talk to a body of water. The prototype projects a future where we have expanded the concept of empathy to include not only humans and animals, but also natural entities such as meadows, mountains, forests and lakes. The prototype is inspired by events such as the 2017 recognition of the Whanganui River in New Zeeland as a legal entity and paints a picture of a future where AI enables a radically different relationship, and communication, between us humans and other parts of nature.

Expected effects and result

The biotopes on Earth, where water is a cornerstone, are the very basic prerequisites for our food supply. By creating the conditions for communication between us as humans and the living environments that sustain us, and on which we depend for our survival, AI technology can play a key role in the transition to a more sustainable society. Two-way communication between human and e.g. a lake has the potential to profoundly change the way we relate to other parts of nature.

Planned approach and implementation

Our way of working will be based on Point´s process for strategic foresight, which combines a systematic and data-driven way of working to understand and analyze trends with developing scenarios and artifacts through speculative design. We will work iteratively and develop different versions of the prototype, first in a simpler form to create early learning, then to gradually make the prototype more concrete and interactive. The process is carefully documented to keep a clear common thread from trend, insight, scenarios to final prototype.