The latest guest on Future Says season five is Nokia’s Leslie Shannon, head of trend and innovation scouting. Trend scouting may seem like an unusual job title – Shannon herself says she doesn’t often fit neatly into Nokia’s organizational chart – but it has a simple, powerful purpose. As she describes in her LinkedIn profile: “I am a futurist who investigates new technology developments in fields such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual reality, augmented reality, Internet of Things, natural language interfaces – and finding out what's real, as opposed to what's just talk.”

In a world where new technologies come and go at blazing speeds, where headlines constantly tout new innovations, Shannon’s job is to parse which ones are going to leave a lasting impact on our lives and which ones will fizzle. To separate what technologies will so, she says, may seem complex but is often straightforward. “Technology is worthless unless it’s solving a worthwhile problem,” she says. That Shannon has been spending so much time investigating technologies like generative AI (genAI), extended reality (XR), and the metaverse shows that these technologies are worth exploring further. 

Technology Must Solve Real-World Problems 

Technologies like genAI, XR, and the metaverse will have a substantial impact on our world, Shannon believes, but believes they were characterized poorly when they first emerged, which created an initial wave of skepticism. This is especially true of the metaverse, which she believes was depicted as a purely digital technology that wasn’t solving any physical, real-world problem. “The tools that can bring digital information and entertainment into our physical reality and space, that’s, for me, the true metaverse,” she says. “For me, the metaverse is the union of the digital and the physical.”

Though it’s still in its preliminary stages, Shannon says the metaverse and XR technology have the chance to solve real-world problems that we haven’t previously put much thought into. For example, how does needing to focus on a screen impact our ability to perceive others and our environment? “Integration with the physical space is the ultimate goal. We have so much information available to us through our smartphones – but there’s a problem with that,” she says. “If you’re looking at your phone, your gaze is dead-ending in a two-dimensional screen and you’ve de facto removed yourself from your physical environment. The ‘screen gaze’ issue is a true issue – it’s a social issue and a safety issue. Taking our gaze and having it end on people and places is the shift that needs to happen.” 

And there are other similar problems that XR and the metaverse could potentially solve, like the need to dedicate the use of one or both hands to hold devices. As Shannon imagines it, we need not accept this tradeoff if we have the technology to eliminate it. Devices like glasses and headsets that can blend that information into our natural field of vision, without restricting our ability to move or perceive the world around us, will have a tangible impact not just on peoples’ safety, she believes, but on their social, physical, and emotional well-being as well. This has societal ramifications. 

Rigorous Implementation is Worth the Wait

Though genAI may have usurped the metaverse’s place in the headlines, Shannon believes that these technologies are more connected than separate. This means they share many similar benefits and risks. “We should never think about one technology in isolation. We have to always be thinking about them in conjunction with each other and how they interact with each other,” she says. The benefits of genAI and the metaverse are generally well-known; but the risks, she notes, are paramount for organizations to consider and minimize. 

Shannon says the key to responsible genAI use is quality data and strong data governance. To her, the maxim of “garbage in, garbage out” has never been truer. “If you’re implementing some kind of generative AI thing within your corporate walls, don’t be lazy about the data choices you feed into it,” she says. “Be really, really vigilant about the data that goes in.” Moreover, she emphasizes the need for organizations to take the long view and not rush their initiatives for the sake of what will prove to be ill-gotten quick wins. “Cleaning your data and bringing it into generative AI isn’t going to happen by Tuesday. This is a long-term project, so get started now,” she says. 

Organizations that take the right approach, Shannon says, will reap ample rewards. After all, good data and transformational genAI and XR technologies are opening more opportunities than ever. Good data can be a company’s differentiator. “[Data analytics and AI] can allow you to get at the underlying causes of problems you may not have even known were problems. That’s what database normalization, digital twin visualization, and having an interface that anyone in the company can use [can do],” she says.

It's a Big World Out There

Underlying Shannon’s role as a trend scout is a key value that other guests this season have also cited: curiosity. Without it, a trend scout can’t do (and won’t enjoy) their job. “It’s such a big world – I always just want to know what’s around the next corner. It’s purely curiosity that keeps driving me,” she says. 

Shannon also knows the value of humility. After all, today’s technology isn’t guaranteed tomorrow – so much can change so fast. That’s why she believes the most valuable thing people can have today isn’t technical ability, but an adaptable mindset. “The tools that are there today – who knows if I’m using those in a year?” she says. “The key isn’t knowing a certain tool, it’s the continual learning mindset.” This approach has worked for her in her more than 25-year career, and for someone with a master’s degree not in technology or engineering, but art history. “Even if I were an engineer, what I would’ve learned at university in the 80’s doesn’t matter anymore. [Nokia] truly sees me for how I think and has rewarded me based on that,” she says. 

In short, Shannon has seen trends and technologies rise and fall – but she believes genAI, XR, and the metaverse are here to stay thanks to the potential they have to merge the digital and physical. But before we reach that seamless future, people must implement these technologies with a sense of humility, responsibility, and flexibility. This is what gives people the tools to evolve and thrive in a world in which, when asked what could change in the next three to five years, Shannon responded with a single word: “Everything.”

Click here to listen to the full episode with Nokia’s Leslie Shannon. To check out the rest of Future Says season five, visit https://altair.com/future-says. And be sure to subscribe to Future Says on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music/Audible, YouTube Music, and Podcast Addict.