Accenture Life Trends 2023 1671168778

If you’re looking for Fjord Trends 2023, you’re in the
right place. It’s now called Accenture Life Trends

2023. Under a new name, this year’s report remains
true to the 15-year legacy of Fjord Trends and has
the same inspiring content. 
Let’s dive in. 

Introduction
Control
If we think of life as seismic waves, until a few years The landscape never looks the same after
ago, things seemed to hum along quite nicely a seismic shift, and we’re already seeing it alter.
(in most places) with the occasional spike here There are areas where the balance of control
and there. Now, though, the shocks feel relentless will teeter and tip one way or another. This affects
and power   and wild, and sometimes it’s extremely unsettling.

When circumstances are literally beyond people’s
control, it prompts multiple responses designed
people’s relationships with the systems through
which they run their lives, but it also impacts
brands and organizations. Brands will decide
to stabilize and regain control—often expressed in how much control to offer their participatory
micro-moments and small opportunities that make customers in exchange for their loyalty, and in
people feel like they’ve got a handle on things.  business, leaders will define the next evolution
  of hybrid working. 
We see technology providing a channel for people
to take control. A creative shift is underway thanks On the following pages are five trends
to the democratization of AI for images, sound, we believe will alter the power dynamic
and words. Technology is offering opportunities
between brands and people in the coming
to participate in shaping the future of the brands
they love through changes in the attention
12 months and beyond. We hope you find
economy. And through tokenization, technology them insightful.
may soon hand people full control over their own
personal data. 
 
Image created using artificial intelligence
Copyright © 2022 Accenture. All rights reserved. III

00 Introduction
AI-generated art: approach / AI PROMPT
hand-in-hand with
Accenture Life Trends 2023 use the knowledge we
have now to craft predictions of what’s next. In the
the technology
case of our fourth trend, OK, Creativity, changes in a mutual
are happening so fast, we saw an opportunity to
expansion of
use the technology of the moment to envision
where things were when we published. creativity,
diversity, and
OK, Creativity describes a series of developments
that fundamentally impact art and design, so possibility
we used the power of AI-generated art to help
illustrate our five distinctly different trends, and
visualize the balance of control and power at play.
Our designers first pulled words and phrases from
the text to use as an initial prompt, then worked
hand-in-hand with the technology in a mutual
collaborative expansion of creativity, diversity, and
possibility.
A true partnership between human ingenuity

/ ADDITIONAL HUMAN USER PROMPTS
and technology, we believe these trends promise
phenomenal potential for change. + working, collaborative, surrealist, 8k,
algorithm version 4
Copyright © 2022 Accenture. All rights reserved. IV

01 I will survive 02 I’m a believer 03 As it was 04 OK, Creativity 05 Signed, sealed, delivered
1 – 14 15 – 30 31 – 44 45 – 57 58 – 72
Contents
Copyright © 2022 Accenture. All rights reserved. V

Accenture Life Trends 2023
01
/ AI PROMPT / ADDITIONAL HUMAN USER PROMPTS
Waves of crises, one after the other, have come + style surrealism, early surrealist
in to change people’s day-to-day lives
I will survive
01 I will survive
Permacrisis
and human adaptability
Waves of crises, one after the other, have come

in to change people’s day-to-day lives. For some,
crisis isn’t new but for others, it’s extremely
destabilizing. People’s response to crisis is always
(eventually) to adapt. As growing numbers of
people internalize instability as a norm, the way
they adapt will affect what they buy, and how they
view brands and their employers—so companies
need to be ready.
+ surreal, algorithm version 4, change 100
Copyright © 2022 Accenture. All rights reserved. 2

01 I will survive
What’s going on
There’s no sugar-coating it: the world seems to

be lurching from one crisis to the next. There has
been a pandemic, war, extreme political division,
wildfires, severe weather events (hurricanes,
floods, droughts), dramatic increases in the cost of
living—and no time to take a breath after each one
before another rolls in. People may look back on
the previous thirty years as comparatively stable in
many places.
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This is neatly expressed by the fact that
Collins Dictionary announced its word of the year
for 2022 as “permacrisis,” defined as an extended
period of instability and insecurity.1

01 I will survive
When will the macroeconomic While people are busy fighting

shocks of life settle down? personal financial fires, they’re also
facing increasingly tangible effects
Many people believe the very systems through
of climate change.
which they run their lives are failing them, placing
responsibilities that were once shared solely on
The record-breaking temperatures that roasted
their shoulders. Workers whose income doesn’t
Europe in the summer of 2022 are expected to
rise in step with inflation are effectively taking pay
become the norm by 2035, which will likely see
cuts, and at the time of writing, daily headlines
millions of people displaced by wildfires, flash
shout about inflation rates and their impact on the
floods, and storm damage.6,7 Asia will be hardest hit
cost of goods, energy, and mortgage repayments.2
by rising sea levels, as six of its nations are home
In Argentina, for example, interest rates have
to approximately 75% of the 300 million people
reached 75% and inflation is almost at 100%, while
worldwide living in areas that are projected to be
the UK’s energy crisis threatens to plunge a third of
below average coastal flood levels by 2050.8
households into fuel poverty and the cost of living
is increasing at its fastest rate in 40 years.3,4,5
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01 I will survive
People who seek a mental escape from it online Living in an era that relentlessly demands mental
are facing challenges there, too. Algorithmic coping strategies is gnawing away at people’s
angst—the constant paranoia of whether sense of safety and causing widespread anxiety.
people’s decisions are truly theirs or a result of A survey by the British Association for Counselling
manipulation—is on the rise and is driving an and Psychotherapy revealed that 66% of therapists
exodus to new platforms.9 Apparently, they can’t said that the cost-of-living crisis is impacting
even trust the news anymore. In fact, many have people’s mental health but, despite their increasing
simply stopped looking at it. Reuters Institute’s need for help, 47% reported patients cancelling
2022 Digital News Report—a global survey of 46 their sessions because they could no longer
markets across six continents—revealed: “Trust in afford them.11
the news has fallen in almost half the countries
in our survey... Interest in news has fallen sharply
across markets, from 63% in 2017 to 51% in 2022.”10
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01 I will survive
The instability is also emphasizing the

normalization of contradictory behaviors,
as explored in Accenture’s The Human Paradox
report.12 The research found that people are
allowing themselves to be inconsistent as they
reconcile personal values with practical
realities, with 69% of those asked saying they
think paradoxical behaviors are both human
and acceptable.
Over the past 40 years or more, stability and

rising prosperity have taken billions of the world’s
population up Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs.
For example, China has lifted over 800 million
people out of poverty since 1990.13 As some slide
back down and become increasingly anxious
about concerns like food, heat, and housing,
will they forget the higher order of needs such
as esteem and even self-actualization?
We don’t think so. With the exception of the very
poorest members of society, the past few
decades have taught people values they will
not willingly abandon.
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01 I will survive
What’s next
Periods of instability are a fact of life and,

throughout history, people have always found
ways to adapt to get through. Accenture’s research
found that people in emerging markets have so
much more experience in dealing with instability
that when they get bad news, they get upset, then
they simply keep going. Their ability or perhaps
willingness to adapt generally far outstrips that of
people used to living in mature markets.14
In a slight adjustment to the generally

accepted “F” responses, we’re characterizing
people’s approach to adapting as a constant
switch between fight, flight, focus,
and freeze.
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01 I will survive
Fight: While the current situation in Iran is one of the

most severe examples, this fight is manifesting
People will increasingly in other ways, too. At the time of writing, the UK
is facing its biggest rail strike in decades, while
raise their voices against Europe’s airline staff continue to strike over low
pay.16,17 Strikes aren’t new, but we expect to see
injustice—in some cases, many more of them as formerly rule-following
people are forced into taking extreme action in
at the risk of significant the hope of better equipping themselves to
survive financial strain. People have more access
personal cost. to information and are now increasingly aware
of the harsh realities of the world. They are angry
and they want what is just. This has been made
People are fast approaching the end of their plain by acts like the defacing of Van Gogh’s
patience and many more of them will do what is “Sunflowers” in London.18
often a last resort: stand up and fight for what they
need. After the death of Mahsa Amini—a 22-year- We expect to see more protest around a
old woman who had been detained by Iran’s range of issues that span the whole human
morality police for not wearing her hijab—crowds experience. Some of these will catch brands
took to the streets around the world.15 Social media + 35mm, algorithm version 2, change 100
and employers by surprise or disrupt
provides a vehicle for sharing information, which
spreads anger and leads directly to increased
companies and whole economies further.
action. This kind of fight can go down in history
books as a turning point for countries and people.

01 I will survive
Flight: Flight response is often characterized by the

feelings of cynicism, desperation, and the hope
People will look for that elsewhere can offer escapism—both mentally
and physically.
alternative options,
People are losing the ability to trust anyone to act
including relocation, in their best interest—including their governments.
Those who can afford to will vote with their feet
switching financial and leave places where housing isn’t affordable,
infrastructure is inadequate, and state-run systems
systems, and finding fall short. Twice as many Australians will move
because of cost-of-living pressures (65%) as Covid
different digital platforms. disruptions (27%), and the financial squeeze has
become so extreme in recent months that a rent
increase of just AU$50 a week would prompt 40%
of Australians to consider moving house.19
The flight reaction is also a spectrum. It may be

as simple as being unhappy with congestion and
air quality in a city and moving to a more rural
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area, or as extreme as fleeing government-
mandated conscription, as young men have been
doing in Russia.20

01 I will survive
Families who are seeking to make ends We’re also witnessing a change in how
meet are cutting back on non-essentials like people use social media. Rather than
media and subscription services, resulting accounts portraying the perfect life, real
in a phenomenon dubbed the “Great people want to see and connect with real
Cancellation”. People are cancelling gym people, complete with shortcomings and
memberships, pausing contributions to vulnerabilities. BeReal has rapidly gained in
pensions, and abandoning health and life popularity with over 10 million daily active
insurance policies. Recent studies in the UK users—the concept is simple and is a far
suggest 5% have cancelled their home and cry from the edited and staged content on
contents insurance over the past 12 months, almost every other platform.22
and 6% or 1 million households don’t intend
to renew in the coming year.21 The cost-of-
living crisis may also exacerbate loneliness
as one of the first expenses people drop will
be their social activities. Brands that find
ways to meet the resulting need will do well
in the long run.
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01 I will survive
Focus: initiatives to organize community shopping and

share transportation. Besides the obvious cost
People cope by savings, these initiatives create meaning and help
focus their minds.23
focusing on what they
Single-function platforms are creating spaces
can control. where like-minded individuals can relax and bond
over shared interests. Discord, a platform whose
original purpose was for in-game communication,
has always been grounded in social connection.24
When the big wide world feels negative and
daunting, some people will channel their attention Digitally, this is manifesting in a shift from large-
on communities where they feel they belong. scale influencers to micro-influencers, whose
They will reduce their sphere both physically follower numbers sit between 1,000 and 100,000.25
and virtually, quieting the noise and rejecting the Micro-influencers offer the promise of greater
global-first version of life that has been promoted credibility as they tend to focus on niche areas—
by online news and social media in the past some on travel, others on financial advice.
decade or more. They’ll cut out anything that falls Sixty-one percent of US consumers think these
outside their highest priorities. communities are more trustworthy than brands.26
We expand on this phenomenon in the trend
When people don’t know how to plan for entitled I’m a believer.
the future, or when their autonomy to plan
is compromised, they naturally channel their
attention on things they can control. Accenture’s
research project participants told us about their
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01 I will survive
‘Resignation’ more often relates to quitting something, but

a lot of the time it can equally mean enduring, or simply
not fighting anymore. In that way, quiet quitting is not
simply about leaving a job, but more about an emotional
power-down to economy mode.

01 I will survive
Freeze: The energy is running low, but music, art and

culture always bring vitality into society. They
People will switch bring a fresh mood that rejects and replaces that
which has grown stale—out with the old and in
off entirely. with the new. Think about the wider circumstances
around the emergence of rock ’n’ roll, punk or rap,
for example. As this permacrisis rumbles on, we
If they’re unable to easily leave their environment see the right conditions brewing for something
or actively shape it, many people will embrace new, culturally, that changes people’s outlook
resignation as a coping mechanism. “Resignation” and brings them hope. With a transformation in
more often relates to quitting something, but a lot creative tools through AI, it feels like something
of the time it can equally mean enduring, or simply might come soon.
not fighting anymore. In that way, quiet quitting
is not simply about leaving a job, but more about The situation may be approaching a point where
an emotional power-down to economy mode. people are moving on from skepticism or feigned
The signals include China’s “bai lan” or “let it rot” ignorance to sheer anger, which will have dramatic
movement, which centers around young people’s effects on brands. Like it or not, most people must
refusal to invest significant effort in life because it interact with brands—especially those that make
seems futile.27 life possible, like consumer-packaged goods. As
brands exist entirely in a cultural context, it will be
Fatigue and the onset of the disempowered important to read signals fast and react to them
individual combine to mean people will look at appropriately. They will also need to understand
existing systems and brands with ever-greater that adapting responses will vary from person to
skepticism. They already suspect manipulation and person, and that any single person may show all of
disappointment, and they’ll increasingly approach them in different contexts.
+ algorithm version 3, change 100
with caution, not hesitating to shut down their
relationships with any brand they perceive to have
disappointed or betrayed them.

01 I will survive
Step one for brands is to understand their own Organizations will need to show their value
permission space in fine detail, and to avoid through meaningful products, experiences, and
invading spaces where they aren’t welcome. This services, and not through short-term gestures that
is reflected in calls for brands and people to “stay can ultimately be viewed as PR stunts.
in their lane” and includes keeping tabs on how
new platforms are evolving, whether they belong The pressures facing people today inevitably
there, and whether people want to hear from them impact brands too and when times get hard,
on any given topic. During Accenture’s research companies often make the mistake of dropping
project, one person in the US said: “It feels mostly things they see as luxuries, like innovation,
artificial when brands take a stand on issues advertising, and brand building. Brands must
that are not related to their specific product. I resist the tendency to behave in the same way as
want brands to be known for being good to their people do when under pressure—i.e., dropping
employees and not be wasteful or polluting.”28 what they deem to be non-essential. Often, the
best innovation happens against a backdrop
People’s needs are evolving fast—and of constraint and difficulty. Right now, AI and
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companies must embrace a life-centric the metaverse (which we cover in more detail
elsewhere in this report) are worth exploring as
approach to meet these ever-changing
routes to innovate.
circumstances and priorities,
as Accenture explores further in When faced with hardship, people always adapt
The Life-Centricity Playbook.29 and evolve into a new version of themselves, and
that will continue to be the case. People will come
through this period. The way they adapt will likely
define a generation and the products they love.

02
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I’m a believer
02 I’m a believer
What’s next
for loyalty?
A sense of belonging is one of humanity’s most

basic needs—the feeling of being happy or
comfortable as part of a group. In recent years,
people have found belonging through interest
groups on digital channels, and some of those
habits have found a more permanent place
in their lives. New technologies are building on
the shift in behavior, enabling a new wave of
community-first, product-later models that boost
customers’ connection with a brand. This will
reshape loyalty programs to enable people to
participate more in the brands they believe in. On
the other side of the coin, it will enable brands
to explore new product-areas and enjoy more
lucrative customer relationships.
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02 I’m a believer
What’s going on
People are seeking out new places online where

they can feel a greater sense of belonging.
Social platforms don’t feel so social anymore as
algorithms prioritize brilliantly curated carousels
of third-party content over friends’ posts. Many
are now focusing on hobbies and activities that
give them meaning, and have started seeking
out digital groups where they could explore their
interests. A significant majority of Accenture’s
research project participants across geographies
told us they’ve tried new hobbies or joined new
communities in the past six to nine months.30
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02 I’m a believer
Right now, we see three threads converging: communities of interests

and belonging, token-gating of exclusive content or access, and digital
collectibles. People have discovered communities of belonging on platforms
like Reddit, Discord, and Twitch, where it’s easy to find kinship among people
who will actively listen, engage in, and talk about the topics they had perhaps
assumed were niche. There’s a digital channel for almost everything, including
activist causes, coffee, skincare, vintage synthesizers, home renovation,
ghost-hunting, sports, Dungeons and Dragons—just to name a few. These
communities exist at macro and micro levels, global and local, offline and
online, and they’re creating places where people feel they belong.
The groups have begun to experiment with tokenized experiences

enabled through Web3 technologies, whereby people buy participation
or access rights to content or community, or to join an event. This is
revealing a new and lucrative way for brands to engage meaningfully
with their most loyal customers.
Tokenized access and content have allowed brands to experiment with new
ways to monetize branded digital assets, and is allowing superfans into a
reimagined customer experience where two-way loyalty is at the core.
Adidas Into The Metaverse is an effective token-gated community, where
users can benefit from things like free Adidas products if they connect their
wallet to Discord.31
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02 I’m a believer
The progression of digital communities is prompting brands

to develop new goods and experiences for customers and it’s
leading to new revenues for brands and potentially the customer
too. In some cases, there are new, independent revenue streams
driven by entirely virtual goods (including but not
limited to NFTs), perpetual royalties that generate passive income,
and products that have utility in virtual and physical
experiences simultaneously.
Communities are forming around digital collectibles, which

include things like art, autographs, trading cards, brand
catalogues, and even important moments in news/history/sports.
For instance, Nike has created virtual sneakers and collectibles
through their acquisition of RTFKT, a creator-led organization that
uses NFTs, game engines, blockchain, and augmented reality to
create unique digital artifacts. They have made US$185 million in
revenues, and secondary market revenues (where their customers
are reselling the digital collectible NFTs) of about US$1.29 billion.32
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02 I’m a believer
Customers have proven time “Token-gating” is growing in

and again that they will pay popularity across the fashion
industry, as it enables new ways
premium prices for innovative
to embed utility, capture revenue,
and compelling experiences,
or govern a project—creating
scarcity of access and exclusivity.
including accessibility to an
For example, Lacoste launched a
exclusive club. The pay-for-access
collection of 11,212 NFTs, paying
model offers an opportunity for
tribute to their iconic L12 polo shirt,
brands to monetize exclusive and
and offering token holders a say in
premium offerings for participants or
the brand’s future.33
creators—such as metaverse worlds,
games, in-game tiers, individual
events, voting rights or items.
The pricing structure for the
experiences is designed to take
advantage of scarcity while
enhancing engagement.
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02 I’m a believer
Ultimately, the opportunity here lies in exploring new

places to foster a deeper connection with people, as their
passions, hobbies, and interests tip beyond loyalty into
active participation in communities.

02 I’m a believer
Elsewhere, a community of enthusiasts under the

banner WAGMI United is investing in Crawley Town
FC with the goal of giving fans a meaningful voice,
reinventing legacy sports management models,
and taking Crawley Town FC to the premier
league.34 They released an NFT-gated community
for the club, and owners of the NFTs gained voting
rights in addition to their asset. In the words of
WAGMI, “democratizing the club and enabling
our community to vote on decisions that shape
the club’s future: anything from matchday grub
[food] to the club’s directors.” In some ways, sport
is showing brands the way by experimenting with
using Web3 not only to enhance revenues, but to
actively confer rights to fans.
Ultimately, the opportunity here lies in exploring

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people, as their passions, hobbies, and interests
tip beyond loyalty into active participation in
communities. Where sports, games, and culture
are leading, brands will follow to take these
developments into the broader environment.

02 I’m a believer
What’s next
What comes after loyalty in the marketing funnel? We expect to see more brands creating
If loyalty is just a program for many brands, then products specifically because of online
we think of the next level of customer relationship communities populated by people who
as participation. Participation happens when a
articulate or perhaps unwittingly surface an
brand or IP’s (intellectual property) superfans take
their loyalty to the next level and actively play unmet need.
a role in shaping, using, funding, governing, or
advocating for a brand. Bacardi has done a number of NFT projects with
several of their brands, including creating NFTs.
Some customers’ passion for a brand borders for musicians—to connect fans with the artists
on emotional investment, fueling a desire to they love—while receiving monetary remuneration
see it become a success beyond monetary gain in return.35 This bears some of the hallmarks of
(although this could be a part of it). old-fashioned sponsorship but with a twist, as
a consumer-packaged goods (CPG) brand is
effectively playing the role of a record label and
facilitating participation between artists and
their audiences.
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02 I’m a believer
To grow a customer base, it will soon Brands like Doodles are already proving the
become essential for brands to engage business model. The Doodles NFT project is
a profile picture collection from artists that
their communities—
portrays different cartoon characters with
joyful pastel color combinations. It launched
or build a new one, if they have the
in the middle of an NFT frenzy but, instead
permission space. The next generation of
of going big right out of the gate, it built a
brands will be built as communities first, and
dedicated, tight community of fans who
then turned into brands that benefit from
were financially and emotionally invested in
the proactive participation of a community.
the brand—a rare combination in a space
This is a huge step forward from the long-
known for speculative investment and
+ omit text; letters, algorithm version 3, aspect ratio 3:2, change 100 established model whereby founders have
making a quick buck. As Doodles has grown,
defined a brand, advertised, and then
so has participation, with customers taking a
engaged in sales. In a Web3-enabled world,
proactive role in shaping its future.36
a founder might start with community, define
the brand with them, and only then start to
market and monetize.

02 I’m a believer
Of course, there are degrees to which the The brands that do best will be those who
community approach to loyalty can be shape their offering around the benefits and
applied, depending on the nature of a brand utility for customers, and let the technology
and its products or services. Some brands sit quietly in the background.
(like fashion or homewares, perhaps) might
enjoy more widespread success with loyalty It’s early days, but Starbucks is
as a relationship than others (like cleaning experimenting by launching a tokenized
products or car parts). That said, there are loyalty program called Odyssey, which is
now estimated to be 8 billion people on the gently introducing Web3 to a mass-market
planet, and every single one of them will customer by focusing on communicating
find a community to which they belong— rewards and brand engagement rather than
no matter how niche it may seem—so most on the technology.37 Starbucks CMO
brands should be able to find a way to Brady Brewer commented, “It happens to
engage on this level. be built on blockchain and Web3
technologies, but the customer—to be
It’ll be important to remember that the honest—may very well not even know
technology isn’t the most interesting thing that what they’re doing is interacting with
about this for the customer—it’s simply a blockchain technology.”38 When other
tool to drive engagement and facilitate brands follow suit, many customers will reap
ownership. While brands need to know their the benefits of the technology without being
way around Web3 and tokens, many people bogged down by it.
will only be interested in what’s in it for them.
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02 I’m a believer
Even long-established online communities are branching out in a

number of directions in search of new lines of revenue. Reddit, for
example, has launched an NFT-based marketplace where people
can buy blockchain profile pictures for a fixed rate, and released
digital collectible avatars on its website and mobile app. This
is compelling evidence that community-based engagement is
tipping into the mainstream.39,40
These Web3 developments will almost certainly give brands

significantly more direct contact with and influence over their
community, but they will have decisions to make around the
dynamic. For instance, will they treat participants as customers,
or as part of the brand? It’s easy to alienate and isolate existing
communities by prioritizing those who will just generate profit.
The relationship needs to be shaped in a sustainable and organic
way that enhances the power of communities and allows them to
contribute to bottom-up innovation.
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02 I’m a believer
Brands today are reliant on ad platforms Influencers are changing how they run
and hamstrung by changes to social their business relationships, too. Influencer
media algorithms that dictate how much management companies are moving into
of their content reaches their followers. Web3, and creating much better ways
Even the word “follower” describes a one- to track the financial gain brands make
way relationship and a shallow connection. from their clients. Rather than only being
Followers will become participants as they credited when a follower buys a specific
help to shape products and services and recommended item, influencers will be
are rewarded with exclusive offers, previews, compensated for every item bought in
and events in return. Many brands built that transaction.41, 42 The management
digital communities through social media companies are increasingly hosting industry
groups on various platforms, but found they events, and offering resolution to the key
were difficult to track, manage, and extract pain points of traditional social media
value from—both for customers and for the for creators, including content ownership
brands. Web3 communities and tokenization and monetization.
could potentially eliminate these concerns.
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02 I’m a believer
Belonging to a community is a feeling people value,

and technology is now enabling a new way to nurture
communities where people can connect and build
something meaningful. It doesn’t replace in-person
connection—it’s simply another route.

02 I’m a believer
Furthermore, creators will have opportunities These developments are creating a new
for repeated monetization through secondary and exciting channel for growth.
markets. Gen Z creators expect compensation
for the value they provide, having learned lessons Belonging to a community is a feeling people
from their millennial counterparts who pioneered value, and technology is now enabling a new way
the industry but struggled towards monetization.43 to nurture communities where people can connect
Increasingly, affiliate marketers will experiment and build something meaningful. It doesn’t replace
with decentralized autonomous organizations in-person connection—it’s simply another route.
(DAOs), to proactively drive the future of their
industry and leverage strength in numbers—
almost like a unionization of creators. The tools are
rapidly sharpening, moving away from a reliance
on affiliate links, referral codes, and gifting groups,
towards being able to prove attribution. Social
media platforms have not been giving creators
proper ownership or monetization capabilities,
and Web3 will likely enable long-term, more
accurate monetization.
+ futuristic, oil paint, utopia, algorithm version 4, change 100

02 I’m a believer
The impact this evolution has on brands is yet to

be fully explored, but we believe those who
are open to experimenting with Web3-enabled
communities will enjoy stronger two-way
relationships with their customer base. Brands
must remember at all times that tokens are just
a vehicle—customers will buy a benefit.
For 30 years, many people have lived in an

experience economy, but this trend pushes things
somewhere beyond experience to participation
and ownership. The shallower the control, the less
meaningful the play but, conversely, the more
control is distributed, the less autonomy a brand
retains. The key question is: how much control are
brands prepared to divest to fans so that they feel
a sense of belonging, and the brand can grow?
How much is belonging worth?
+ aspect ratio 3:2, change 100

03
Office environments usually exist within + post-impressionist, aspect ratio 2:3,

the wider context of a city or town algorithm version 4
As it was
03 As it was
The importance
of work intangibles
As debate continues around the return to the

office, one thing is clear: for many people, it’s
not yet a success. We’ve raised some of these
issues before, but they haven’t been fixed and
the consequences are becoming clearer. It
comes down to the hard-to-measure, intangible
benefits of office life that have gone missing—
and this is intimately tied to the post-pandemic
evolution of cities and their entire value
proposition. Many continue to resist a return to
pre-Covid work rituals, while others crave the
rewards of being together. It’s time leaders went
back to the drawing board to make a logical,
mutually beneficial plan.
+ photorealistic, algorithm version 4, change 100, aspect ratio 3:2

03 As it was
What’s going on
The pandemic dispersed people to the confines

of their homes so suddenly, there wasn’t time to
design a remote working setup that captured all
aspects of work. In the rush to keep the business
ticking along, a raft of intangible elements of
office life fell through the cracks. As well as
obvious factors like face-to-face meetings, there’s
the loss of accidental culture—the unscheduled
conversations and chance encounters that often
yield ideas worth exploring and help develop
career-defining connections.
+ photo realistic, fashion photography, diverse subjects, 22mm fujifilm, change 100, aspect ratio 3:2, algorithm version 4

03 As it was
Without in-person engagement, what happens “I miss the team building activities held by
to mentorship? To innovation? To culture? the company in the past, and now they have
To inclusion? been cancelled due to the reduction of contacts
due to the epidemic,” while another in India told
People who continue to work remotely us, “Before Covid, we all employees used to
could easily be overlooked for promotions or have lunch breaks and tea breaks in which we
opportunities simply because they aren’t used to chit chat a lot. And we missed that thing
so visible—and many will be parents of young a lot.” In the UK, a participant told us they missed
children whose logistics are easier if they “the daily interaction with colleagues,
work at home. impromptu conversations.”
The return to the office is not yet a success, For balance, a US participant in the same research
and leadership must take a fresh approach project stated, “I feel closer to and appreciate my
employer MORE. By allowing me to work remotely
if they want to move things forward in the
I feel more inclined to stay present with my job but
right ways. still allowed flexibility.”44 A different study found
that 35% of Australians said they would quit their
Accenture’s research found that people around job or start looking for another if their employer
the world are missing certain intangible aspects forced them to return to the office full time.45
of office life: a participant in China commented, The primary reason? To avoid the commute.
+ photo realistic, surreal, diverse subjects, bright, 8k, hyper detailed, change
100, aspect ratio 2:3, algorithm version 4

03 As it was
Working hard used to be balanced with social The tension between employer and
and leisure activities that describe the fun employee is evolving and becoming
part of work. Today, the balance is leaning
harder to ignore.
too far towards work as those who aren’t
yet back in the office miss out on the social
The statistics are stark, with 85% of
aspects, the fun and the friendships. A recent
employees reporting that they’re productive
Gallup poll found that those who had a best
at work, but only 12% of managers stating
friend at work were twice as likely to report
they have full confidence that this is the
feeling strongly satisfied at work during the
case.47 48% of employees and 53% of
pandemic as those who don’t have a close
+ photo realism, surreal, wide shot, macro, movie scene, colorful 8k, hyper detailed, 8k, hyper detailed, managers say they’re burned out.48 Managing
friendship in the office (32% vs 15%).46
change 100, aspect ratio 3:2, algorithm version 4 people is difficult and more visibility of
employees allows managers to understand
where they might need more support. This is
hard to see when people are not together.

03 As it was
There is a range of subtle and discussing with role models.50

but important angles on this If young workers in particular aren’t
loss of intangibles: exposed to role models, the loss
could slow their progress.
Firstly—and this is a big one—the
office is a place for being together. It’s also easier and more effective to
It’s about sharing moments of deliver validation when together. An
camaraderie, trials, triumphs and email relationship will never be as
the pursuit of a goal. Accenture’s fulfilling or stable as one that has the
research found that people miss powerful benefits of vocal intonation,
being together to share in birthday body language, and facial expression.
cake, gossip, and inconsequential Providing regular, informal feedback
pop culture chats, though many have is almost impossible when people
replaced those things at home with are apart, as it requires scheduling
solo activities like gardening, pets, calls or sending emails to employees,
or lunchtime workouts.49 rather than grabbing a quick chat.51
Mentorship is better delivered in

person, too. The typical professional + photo-realistic, vibrant, hyper-realistic, diverse, textured, hyper-realistic, film, vibrant, change 100,
learning model is said to be 70% aspect ratio 3:2, algorithm version 4
learning on the job by gaining
experience through assignments,
10% dedicated learning such as
training courses, and 20% observing

03 As it was
Second is that no two teams—indeed, no

two people—are alike. While creative teams
might benefit from being together and
fostering a shared vibe that sparks ideas, tasks
that require absolute focus could be better
done, uninterrupted, in the home office. On
an individual level, introverts who have now
worked on their own terms might be reluctant
to return to pre-pandemic norms, while their
more extroverted colleagues will thrive in
a vibrant office environment. Designing for
these extremes is a challenge leadership must
be ready to take on.
Third is about output and outcomes. Measuring

“productivity” generally focuses on output and
fails to quantify what really matters: outcomes. 52
Evaluation of outcomes shouldn’t be limited

to quantitative metrics like leads followed
up or sales made but should encompass
qualitative factors like the experience of work
itself. The importance of fun at work should
never be underestimated.
+ surrealist, algorithm version 4

03 As it was
Innovation is also fueled by unconscious observation,

as exposure to the world beyond the home office brings
color to people’s lived experience. If nobody ventures out
to investigate new fields of interest or looks deeper into
emerging trends, creativity will suffer.

03 As it was
When Covid-19 locked everyone in their As Neal Stanton, Co-CEO of enterprise video
homes, it kicked spontaneity to the side- service Ramp, comments in Forbes: “One
lines, which is still having a knock-on of the biggest challenges facing leaders is
effect on innovation. An MIT study found ensuring the ongoing viability and profitability
that when workers are dispersed, the of a company, two factors that are tied to
relationships that foster innovation are not only individual performance but also
often those that suffer most.53 Innovation team performance as well. It’s the latter
is also fueled by unconscious observation, where collaboration, creativity, innovation
as exposure to the world beyond the and productivity are irretrievably linked and
home office brings color to people’s lived dependent on one another.”54 Tangibles such
experience. If nobody ventures out to as those elements Mr. Stanton mentions are
investigate new fields of interest or looks given meaning and made more enjoyable by
deeper into emerging trends, creativity will intangibles, many of which were lost in the
suffer. People who stay at home all the time scramble to work remotely.
miss out on the stimulation of watching
how the world is moving forward, of
identifying problems to solve, and of simply
being part of an evolving culture.
+ photo-realistic, vibrant, macro shot, hyper-realistic, diverse, textured, hyper-realistic,

colorful, change 100, aspect ratio 3:2, algorithm version 4

03 As it was
Those losing out most are the generation who

joined the workforce since March 2020, who have
yet to benefit from the intangibles in a reliable,
constant, or meaningful way. This must inevitably
change not just what they learn and how they
develop in their careers, but also how they feel
about the experience of work. It also removes
their opportunity to build a network of strong
professional relationships that can help shape their
career further down the line.
By the time this report is published, three years of

new joiners will have been affected. It’s a significant
percentage of the workforce and it’s rising each year.
Those workers could become increasingly out of
kilter with older colleagues, or simply less engaged
with the very notion of work.
Questions around the intangibles affect us at

Accenture, too. Hybrid working initially looked as
though it would be an experiment that needed
constant tweaking. As time goes on, it becomes
increasing clear that workable solutions will only
come with a determined and concentrated effort
to remap work.
+ hyper realism, futuristic, surrealism, movie scene, diverse, hyper-realistic, change 100, aspect ratio 3:2, algorithm version 4

03 As it was
What’s next
Workplace design hasn’t yet caught up to new We’re seeing most organizations taking either a
workforce expectations. Instead of continuing non-negotiable, directive approach or a more
to optimize what exists, companies should democratic one. The first means setting out
completely reimagine work, addressing with leadership’s expectations and enforcing them,
intention both tangibles and intangibles. regardless of the risk that employees will walk.
Intangibles should be treated as must-haves rather The second involves including employees in the
than nice-to-haves, and leadership will need to be process, understanding their current life priorities
100% on board. Simply making it a policy won’t and what they want from their working experience,
work—they need to be confident in their strategy then finding a compromise between that and
and put in the work to make it effective. business objectives. In our view, neither of these
will truly work.
+ futuristic, surrealism, movie scene, diverse, photo realism,

diverse subject, optimistic, 8k ada, aspect ratio 2:3, algorithm version 4

03 As it was
We believe the solution centers around clarity of People will only be willing to come to
purpose, which informs clarity of policies. CEOs the office for the promise of community,
should be crystal clear about the company’s
relationships, and factors that enrich their
ambitions and how their employees can play a role
careers, and the responsibility to deliver
in getting them there, and they must be so firm
in their convictions that they’re prepared to lose these things lies with leadership.
employees for whom the plan doesn’t work. Putting
Earning people’s commute demands proper
it into practice will require an attitude that bears
investment in designing intangibles into a hybrid
the hallmarks of a life-centric approach, to ensure
working model. This means starting from a blank
it stops short of the directive (even dictatorial)
sheet of paper and taking no suggestions off the
approach we’ve rejected above.
table before fully investigating their value. It’s
essentially the zero-based approach—albeit in
To make this work, the role of leadership and
a very different, non-financial context. Designing
managers should evolve to include a degree of
intangibles into a hybrid working setup will
event management. Leaders must create reasons
require imagination to create solutions and plenty
for people to want to come into the office, beyond
of drive to embed them. The idea of planning
free coffee—they must earn people’s commute.
for spontaneity sounds absurd but it’s doable with
creativity—think weekly 30-minute coffee chats
unrelated to work, with randomized small groups
of people. Time should be strictly ringfenced
for celebrating successes and sharing
ideas, for building relationships and having
inconsequential conversations.
+ algorithm version 4

03 As it was
There should be new rules to reduce online Space design is also important, and some
meetings on days when people are in the organizations are already creating spaces that
foster deeper connections with colleagues.
office to make space for the intangibles they
Salesforce, for example, opened a 75-acre
can’t benefit from at home.
ranch where it’s running a range of employee
engagement programs to bring people together
If people are taking calls through headphones in person.55 A lot of people find much-needed
all day, they’re still isolated—just in a different balance in the opportunity to choose when they
location. Calendar etiquette should be redesigned go to the office or work from home.
to make it acceptable to reschedule calls for the
sole reason that the invitee will be in the office that Office environments usually exist within the wider
day. In fact, the digital calendar looks like it’s up for context of a city or town, which must inform
complete redesign. strategy for delivering on intangibles. Exactly what
cities offer (and how they offer it) was part of the
Tools are a key part of the redesign, and leaders work package for many if not most office workers,
+ colorful should scrutinize each for its suitability for hybrid and it creates a triangle of places from which
working and ditch those that fall short. Employees people derive invisible benefits: city, workplace,
will likely have strong views on what works for home. Shops, a variety of lunch places, even the
them, and what puts an unnecessary kink in scenes people walk past to get to work can all
their working day. They’ll have already spotted create a vibe that make it worth commuting in. In
opportunities for streamlining, so companies London, Thursday night is the new Friday—a self-
could save time and money by involving them reinforcing trend that allocated Friday as a stay-at-
in the discussion. home day, so social engagements moved earlier
in the week.56

03 As it was
Many cities are thinking about their own unique

selling points and looking at ways to attract and
retain the best talent from around the world. For
instance, Line is a new city in Saudi Arabia that
will run entirely on renewable energy and will
eventually be home to 9 million residents whose
needs will all be reachable within a five-minute
walk.57 Cities have become more community-
centric, thinking through traffic by expanding
car-free neighborhoods and developing public
transportation and bike lanes. Barcelona is
addressing spatial planning by creating green
hubs that form rural areas in urban jungles.58
Paris has introduced a dedicated series of
“streets to schools” as it looks to make the city
safer for children.59
Leaders now need to decide which approach

will serve their business and their employees
best. It’s not about just where people work—it’s
+ futuristic, surrealism, diverse subject, optimistic, 8k, change 100, aspect ratio 3:2, algorithm version 4
how they work, and the value exchange between
employer and employee beyond money. In some
cases, leaders will need to make clear that what
employees want may, in fact, be detrimental to
their own experience of work. It’ll be a hard sell,
but an important one.

04
Exploring how neural networks can be used as a + aspect ratio 16:9, change 100
creative tool for art and music
OK, Creativity
04 OK, Creativity
AI is now in people’s
hands for creativity
Artificial intelligence is breaking new ground and

helping people harness their innate creativity.
What was once a tool for companies to complete
repetitive tasks is now a co-pilot that’s available
to everyone as part of their creative process.
Suddenly, anyone can create reasonable-quality
language, image, and video content with seemingly
little effort or learned skill. With developments
emerging at astonishing speed, companies need to
be thinking about this now and working out how to
stand out in a sea of decent content.
+ 33mm, extremely realistic, hyper detailed, change 100, aspect ratio 16:9

04 OK, Creativity
What’s going on
When rumblings about artificial intelligence (AI) first started years

ago, many people feared their jobs would be automated but those
in creative fields felt a little safer, believing that creativity must surely
be a uniquely human ability. That’s changing fast, as 2022 saw
technology take giant leaps, with new tools frequently springing up
to put tech-powered creativity right in people’s hands.60
While there’s no consensus on the definition of “creativity,” in this

context it’s the ability to produce something new. It’s a process that
results in an outcome, like art, books, or music. Creativity evolves
culture—influenced by environmental and social norms, and the
motivations that push people to follow, reject, or change those
norms. Technology is now acting as a co-pilot that sits alongside
anyone who’s interested in harnessing their innate creativity.
+ 50mm, hyper realistic, 8k, algorithm version 4, aspect ratio 3:2

04 OK, Creativity
A threat response when new technology emerges

seems to be hardwired into people’s psyche.
For instance, when photography was first invented,
people found it peculiar and worried about what
would happen to the art of capturing a scene
through painting.61 As it turned out, photography
arguably opened the door for new painting
movements like impressionism and surrealism.
Indeed, photography itself became about much
more than simply capturing images for utilitarian + aspect ratio 16:9, change 100
or record-keeping purposes and is a creative
artform that has made the world an infinitely
richer place.

04 OK, Creativity
Technology’s impact on creativity

has often been used as a tool that
expedites the process.
It helps people figure out what to do with ideas

and how to take them further, or else it creates
entirely new possibilities that can be developed.
It’s rapidly evolving beyond its purpose as just a
tool for efficiency into a creative canvas that opens
new possibilities.
Neural networks or deep learning are often lumped

into a broader definition of artificial intelligence,
which we’ll indicate with quotation marks (i.e., “AI”),
as we believe this is the terminology people will
use. In the past year, “AI” has been breaking new
ground in the creative field at an exhilarating pace.
The technology is certainly a driver of this change,
but the most exciting part is the accessibility of
deep learning to the public, which is inspiring a
wave of innovation.
+ 50 mm, hyper detailed, 8k, aspect ratio 1:1

04 OK, Creativity
“AI” has been in the news for decades, having As we went to press with this report,
first being introduced in 1956. It beat a chess ChatGPT emerged, suggesting a big leap
player in 1997 and won a Jeopardy match against
forward in “AI”’s ability to create accurate
a human in 2011.62 Self-driving cars, search and
recommendation engines, voice assistants, and
and useful text, which may become a major
facial recognition are just some of the use cases challenger to search engines.64
most associated with it. Essentially, “AI” has largely
been used by enterprises and brands as a service For sound, Magenta is a research project from
to people or for people. Google, exploring how neural networks can be
used as a creative tool for art and music, and
Recently, neural networks have been made widely Jarvis is a tool that can help create song lyrics.65,66
available to create language, images, and Jukebox is a neural network that generates music—
music, putting “AI” squarely in people’s hands including rudimentary singing—as raw audio in a
as a tool for creativity. variety of genres and artistic styles.67
+ 50mm, hyper detailed, 8k

For language, neural networks are being used to
generate sentence structures in text based on a
language model with 175 billion parameters.63 It’s
sophisticated enough to generate copy for blogs,
emails, and articles, (albeit copy that could then
benefit from some human editing).

04 OK, Creativity
For images, Midjourney is a closed-source, deep AI is shifting from enterprise and service
learning model (accessible via the Discord bot with enablement (which is often invisible)
paywall) for creating images from text and even
to something that is highly visible and
from other images.68 It has a highly active creator
applicable in all parts of people’s lives—
community around it. In fact, Accenture designers
around the world experimented with Midjourney to not unlike the shift in computing from
visualize their pitch ideas for this trend. mainframe to PC.
At the time of writing, Dall-E2 (which preceded But what does all this mean? Today, computers
Midjourney and was also closed source with are so capable, they can do many things better
paywall) has 1.5 million active users generating than people at this point, they work on demand
2 million unique images a day.69,70 Stable Diffusion and can’t generate ideas without being trained
emerged as we were compiling the Trends up by people. “AI” doesn’t have imagination, so
report in September 2022 and already has more it can’t come up with a high-concept movie or
than 10 million users across all channels, and ad campaign, and it doesn’t have heart, which is
importantly is open source with a paywall option arguably what gives art its power.
for higher speed.71 Because it’s open source, there
has been an incredible amount of innovation in a The ease of access means “AI” is being built
very short time. into more existing creative tools, websites and
apps, and repackaged in inclusive formats for
people of every language, culture, age and
ability. This development enables individuals to
be exponentially more productive than previous
generations and generates opportunities for
brands and businesses.
+ world, aspect ratio 2:3

04 OK, Creativity
The speed with which the accessibility of deep

learning models has grown is making people question
whether creativity is under existential threat, but we
would argue that this is simply another variation of the
natural cycle of progress.

04 OK, Creativity
What’s next
When it comes to developments in this Google has already published a proof-of-

technology, “next” is becoming “now” at concept paper for DreamFusion, which
astounding speed. As venture capitalist shows potential for “AI” to generate 3D
Daniel Eckler details on his Twitter feed, objects from text and Meta has launched
“AI” will continue to enable an explosion Make-A-Video, which creates high-quality
of creativity, with new tools coming out at videos from a few words.81,82 Soon, “AI” might
pace.72 It’s almost impossible to keep up be creating entire immersive spaces.83
with the amazing array of game-changing In Fjord Trends 2022, The Next Frontier
applications for business, such as generating speculated about the metaverse and its
synthetic brain scan images that drive potential future developments. One thing we
medical research, on-demand interior hadn’t predicted was the possibility that
design, stock photography for presentations, “AI” could become the tool of choice for
Hollywood-style film effects, seamless building it, and yet, it looks increasingly likely
textures for video games, new kinds of rapid to be the case.
animation that could launch new streaming
content, on-the-fly animated videos and The speed with which the accessibility of
books, concept art, plugins for design tools deep learning models has grown is making
and software, and much more.73,74,75,76,77,78,79,80 people question whether creativity is under
existential threat, but we would argue
that this is simply another variation of the
natural cycle of progress. But as always,
steps forward in technology bring potential
positives and negatives. Expect debate
along these lines:
+ algorithm, version 4

04 OK, Creativity
Good/utopian
First, there’s the creativity aspect. Second is the efficiency aspect, as people
The hardest part of the creative process is who use these tools will be able to create
going from zero to one—meaning making new content at speed. Until recently,
the first mark on a blank page or canvas. searching for an image online yielded
Neural networks will help people to get variable results, but those results are
started, and then they can build layers on becoming more imaginative. There’s
top to produce excellent output. also reason to believe that content will
move on from static to adaptive,
As a tool that accessible to anyone such that it will be possible to create
who wants to use it, “AI” is driving programmable content that flexes
according to the audience.
a new wave of creativity at scale.
+ aspect ratio 16:9, change 100 Furthermore, “AI” will make it quicker and
The output will include new genres
easier to align content to brand style
such as art, electronic music that
guidelines, and even to react to events,
reaches new dimensions, and more
news, or customer complaints in a brand-
sophisticated writing.
compliant way. It will likely become
possible to program “AI” to know how
to craft appropriate responses with little
or no supervision.

04 OK, Creativity
Bad/dystopian
People’s fears of being replaced or made redundant
will need to be handled sensitively.
In this context, “AI” should be described as what it is: a tool

that enables people to explore their own natural creativity.
These advances in technology will most probably involve
creative industries, meaning it won’t turn out to be as
daunting a prospect as it may seem to some.
It’s unclear how professional creators will be able to opt out

and preserve copyright over their work. When a creator’s
work is blended with others’ work using these “AI” models,
how will copyright issues be unpacked? AI platforms must
take responsibility for the content used to train the “AI,” stay
in control of damaging behaviors, and protect the rights of
people and artists.84
Quality of output is utterly reliant on quality of data, and

bias is virtually inevitable. This will likely be addressed in
future, but the basic guardrails in place right now don’t
solve for the fact that the largest data sets don’t represent
all cultures or ways of thinking. And, when machine
learning has created 51% of the world’s content (which
could happen quickly), might it start going round in a loop,
like the social media echo chamber phenomenon? If “AI”
uses “AI”-created content to create more content, does it
stop being so useful, interesting, or creative?
+ fine art, photography, aspect ratio 3:2, algorithm version 4, style 750, style 5000, quality 2, uplight

04 OK, Creativity
The pace of development is the key thing, and it’s Companies will need to work out how to
why companies need to be thinking about this make an impact in a world inundated with
now (if they’re not already). For example, Droga5
creative user-generated content.
(part of Accenture Song) offices around the globe
have used “AI” to generate 116 works of innovative
Much of it will be topical and its relevance short-
art, which are now taking up residence in a virtual
lived. They will need to transition their teams
exhibition and in physical form in Dublin, Ireland.85
to a new content strategy focused on creating
For many people, this moment in time is when “AI”
larger volumes of 3D content, as well as hero
becomes real and starts to find its way into their
content that competes with consumers’ output
everyday lives. We expect “AI” for creativity will
on concept and quality. Teams will need to upskill
become so mainstream that children will start to
to learn to use these new tools and develop their
use it to illustrate their homework.
understanding of “AI,” and be acutely aware of
where the boundaries lie between their personal
This will also affect the metaverse and immersive
and professional capabilities.
worlds. Creators are already playing with Stable
Diffusion technology to project “AI” imagery as
Machines that can help anyone create images,
a layer onto real-world rooms and settings.86
videos and text—which were formerly tasks for
People’s ability to generate images and worlds for
skilled human designers—have increased the pool
gaming and experiences changes the dynamic
of people who can create. In turn, this promises to
of world building and content creation. If the
+ aspect ratio 16:9, change 100, test, creative make storytelling easier for every employee. Much
pace continues, then it’s entirely likely that within
as presentation software enabled a dramatic shift
months or a few years, people will be able to
in people’s ability to explain and convince within
create their own metaverse places—gaming
corporations, so neural networks will enhance their
worlds, experiences—en masse. This will generate
ability to generate compelling presentations.
an inevitable market need for the guardrails
between the places people create, and those who
connect these places together will create valuable
new businesses.

04 OK, Creativity
Marketers will likely find new utility with machine Returning to the photography example, it took
learning. Tomorrow’s chief marketing officer may decades for the technology to reach the hands of
use tech-generated images as concept art before the masses—it will only take months for “AI” to do
the photoshoot or video in audience testing the same, and it will impact how people function.
before the big campaign enters production—they Businesses that lean heavily on visual content (like
might even use “AI” to generate 3D graphics for social media platforms) will likely be transformed
a metaverse brand activation. It could breathe almost overnight. On a personal level, the way
life into campaigns at an earlier point in the people live their lives will probably be impacted
timeline and ultimately lead to quality results at as they weave this newfound ability to be more
higher speed. creative into their activity at work and at home.
It’s an absolute truth that everyone has some These developments will simultaneously put the
degree of creativity within them. The interesting ability to be creative in people’s hands and take it
tension here is between “AI” helping them explore away, and organizations will be confronted with
that creativity and the quality of output. Attention the impact of both. They’ll need to find ways to
to craft separates the excellent from the average— be noticed in a sea of good creative content, and
and the craft cannot stand still but must evolve imagine what these new tools can do to enhance
with the new tools. We expect to see increasing the speed and originality of innovation.
debate around quality and standards where “AI” is
applied to creative work in professional settings.87 As with most emerging technology, open
In design, for instance, if technology plus a novice
can design something good enough, might an questions around the legal and ethical
employer start to question the need to invest more implications remain, and it’s important for
for experienced designers? Without care, output
will become sub-standard.
companies to consult with their legal and
compliance teams and monitor developments
as adoption grows.
+ weight +1, omit text; letters, algorithm version 4,


05
Digital identity, objects and assets + aspect ratio 16:9, change 100
Signed, sealed, delivered

05 Signed, sealed, delivered
Digital wallets:
a question of adoption
A digital identity crisis is going on and brands

should take note. The status quo of how personal
data is used—and even misused—is long overdue
for a change, and people may soon regain control
through digital wallets containing tokens to
represent ID, payment methods, loyalty cards,
and more. Crucially, the default will be that
they’ll decide how much data they share with
organizations. For brands, it might replace data
lost to cookie restrictions with first-party data
from people who voluntarily share it. The devil
is in the details when designing the value concepts
and building people’s trust in the technology’s
ability to keep their most precious personal data
safe. Defining how to ensure adoption is not
a trivial task.
+ algorithm version 4, aspect ratio 3:2, change 100

What’s going on
Privacy is a fundamental right. However, in online

experiences today, there’s a lack of transparency
in how companies are using people’s data, and
trust has diminished. According to software
marketplace G2, 86% of people in the US stated
that they felt growing concerns about their data
privacy, and a further 78% expressed concerns
about the amount of data collected—but they still
wanted personalization.88
+ design, photo realistic, aspect ratio 4:1, change 100

Dark patterns, which are design tactics that In addition to privacy concerns,
persuade or heavily influence people to make the friction in people’s internet experience
certain choices, have been tricking internet users
has been increasing.
into giving up their data, money, and time. Third-
party cookies follow people around the web
Cookie preference pop-ups are just as much
for retargeting purposes, helping brands lure
of a nuisance as pop-up ads, and for every new
them back to their sites to make a purchase. Ad
site or service provider, people are required to
networks have stored incredible amounts of user
onboard data all over again. Today, they’re forced
data, and may have access to sensitive detail such
to remember, on average, over 100 usernames
as medical history, sexual orientation, and political
and passwords—each of which should be unique
affiliation. The problem is that, in some cases, this
and/or follow a specific set of rules around upper
information is linked to people’s real names—and
and lower case, numbers and special characters.89
it’s unclear how extensively this is happening.
The experience is wildly fragmented and anxiety-
provoking as they must manage brands’ attempts
to collect information about them and enter a set
of personal details multiple times a day.
+ ambient, cinematic, rim light, pastel colors, well detailed, aspect ratio 2:3,
algorithm version 4

The mental burden is enormous and grows with every new job,
activity, retailer, social media platform, or financial transaction.
But digital change is in the air.
In 2023, Google is phasing out third-party cookies, which is

forcing brands to create marketing approaches that are less
reliant on third-party cookies and to use more transparent,
privacy-centric tactics to target customers.90 Viable
alternatives for marketing strategy are leaving a gap in how
advertisers collect people’s data, and there’s anxiety in the
marketing industry.
As of 2021, some 83% of marketers still relied on third-party

cookies as part of their marketing strategy.91 A G2 article from
February 2022 states that 44% of marketers predicted they’d
need to quintuple their spending from 5% to 25% to hit the same
goals in 2022 as they did in 2021.92
+ 35 mm, 3d render, cinematic, geometric, aspect ratio 3:2, algorithm version 4

We see signs that tokenization could be a win-win

for people and for marketers.
The rise of digital ownership, through blockchain Today’s tokens of life range from the important
technology, is shifting the power dynamic to users to the useful, the permanent to the fleeting.
by putting them in control of their digital identity Important tokens generally cannot be transferred
through non-transferable fungible tokens stored between people. Some prove who a person is, (like
in digital wallets. What are tokens? When people birth certificate, passport, citizenship card, etc.),
check their coat at an event, they get a ticket in and others are critical for a specific purpose, (such
exchange, showing a unique number matching as driver’s license, medical records, education
that on the coat hanger. The little slip of paper is a certificates, employee ID badge, homeowners’
physical token that represents that coat and serves deeds, etc.). This trend is just as important for
as proof of who owns it. those institutions that create personal identifying
information—such as government agencies for
personal data, universities for credentialed degrees
and so on—as it is for brands.
+ 8bit digital art, octane render, 3d mixed media, aspect ratio 3:2, algorithm version 4

Digital identity, objects, and assets will increasingly

be stored in a “wallet” online, built on the blockchain.
Web3 wallets serve two major functions. The first is
that wallets allow their owners to manage all owned
digital assets, currencies, and tokens in one place.
The second is that wallets are used for accessibility
to other blockchain-based apps. People can
authenticate themselves through their wallets, and
it’s pseudonymous.93 They’re easy to use—at least in
theory—and becoming more accessible.
The promise of Web3 (and what wallets enable)

is the ability for people to take their data with them
and share it with—or even sell it to—brands and
companies they trust. 94
They remain in complete control of their assets

because nobody else has access to the tokens.
+ isometric, render, aspect ratio 3:2, algorithm version 4
From Twitch to Burger King, large companies are
recognizing digital wallets as a payment option.95,96
Metamask, one of the most popular wallet providers,
currently has 21 million users, and usage multiplied
by 38 since 2020.97 Computer Weekly predicts that
more than 60% of the world’s population will use
digital wallets by 2026, with Southeast Asian countries
expected to see the steepest growth.98

What’s next
We see the need for a full ecosystem shift in the

years ahead, as blockchain-based technologies
transform the experience of people’s online lives.
While it’s still a ways off, we’re seeing the

foundations of an open wallet framework starting
to form with transparency and interoperability
built in at the core. We expect to see a universal
digital wallet system that enables people to carry
their tokenized identity (via governments), money
(via banks), possessions, and loyalty (via brands)
around wherever they go online. This is the next
version of the wallets in use today in Web3.
+ photorealistic, aspect ratio 16:9, change 100

As the ecosystem emerges, identity tokens

(via Web3 wallets) will put people in control of their data.
If people owned their data, they would be able
to choose, monitor, and adjust what data they share
with the businesses they interact with.

Non-profit technology consortium, The Linux According to The Linux Foundation, “Massive
Foundation, has launched the Open Wallet business model change is coming and the winning
Foundation (OWF) with a mission to “develop a digital business will be the one that earns trust
secure, multi-purpose, open-source engine anyone to directly access the real data in our wallets to
can use to build interoperable wallets.”99 Moves like create much better digital experiences.”100 This
this will offer people and brands a way to shape a will be the basis on which people reclaim their
+ detailed C4D render, surrealism, surreal concept art, digital painting, complex, aesthetic,
relationship, cutting out the behemoth companies data privacy and control, and brands create better
dreamy, ion luminescence, hyper-realistic, atmospheric, 8k, volumetric lighting, spatial glow,
that have profited from sitting in the middle, digital experiences.
wide angle lens, aspect ratio 3:2
harvesting and selling on customer data.
While a lot depends on design, (more on that
Digital wallets promise to give people control shortly), these changes should be eagerly
over their data privacy and will offer companies a welcomed by internet users as soon as they
platform to obtain more valuable first-party data in understand the benefits they’ll gain:
a post-cookie world.

Firstly, as the ecosystem emerges, identity tokens

(via Web3 wallets) will put people in control of their
data. If people owned their data, they would be
able to choose, monitor, and adjust what data they
share with the businesses they interact with.
They could also set preferences and selectively

disclose the minimum amount of personal
information required to receive the desired service.
New privacy preserving techniques will enable

brands to create highly personalized experiences
but will prevent them from storing or misusing
people’s raw data. Brands that retain, share, or
link people’s personal information beyond what’s
+ 8bit digital art, octane render, 3d mixed media, aspect ratio 3:2, algorithm version 4
necessary for the service they provide could
betray customer trust. When customers can simply
revoke access to their first-party data, brands
will not be able to force their way into people’s
digital wallets.

Secondly, people may no longer need to

onboard their data to individual service
providers—instead, service providers would
have to onboard to them.
This would reduce today’s friction points of having

to update identity details with service providers
that hold such information. For instance,
if a person moves home, they’ll change their
address once and any organization that has been
granted sight of that information will be updated.
This streamlines people’s experience and reduces
opportunity for error.
+ digital art, render, mixed media, aspect ratio 3:2, algorithm version 4

Thirdly, when people have absolute When customers willingly share their data,
control over their data, businesses it suggests a level of buy-in to whatever
the brand is offering. Companies spend an
will have to work harder via loyalty
average of 10% of revenue on marketing, but
programs and incentives to reward
the average conversion rate is between
customers for sharing their data. 2-5% because the quality of data is poor.101, 102
Experimenting with new avenues to grow
This is a renegotiation of the established first-party data and increase conversion rates
dynamic from the past decade. People who will prove to be lucrative.
trust a brand will want to offer their data in
exchange for benefits offered. We expect When someone shares parts of their digital
to see brands plugging their loyalty apps identity with a brand, a rich profile will be
into people’s digital wallets as a strategy to built, telling a deeply personal story about
fit seamlessly into their lives and earn their them. This will enable more accurate and
trust—and their data. Ultimately, loyalty personalized marketing.
programs will improve when customers own
the data the programs collect, such that However, all this comes with a major caveat:
it can’t be sold on. This aligns incentives: despite the obvious advantages, will there
marketers will want and need to be be significant adoption? Tokens represent
trustworthy because if they aren’t, they won’t a huge design challenge. There will be a
have consumer data to work with. They will transition point where the technologies
compete to become the most trusted brand that are in the foreground today (i.e.,
in their category because customers will tokens, blockchain, Web3), will fade into
have the power to go where they want, buy the background and just become part of
what they want, and share what they want. digital experiences. As much as any new
technology we can remember, adoption will
require excellence in experience.
+ paper cut-outs, Pop-up book, paper cuting , aspect ratio 3:2, upbeta, algorithm version 4

How will customers be convinced that the 3. Helping people understand what a wallet is—
wallet is trustworthy and secure? beyond a payment mechanism. This is the
mental model shift, where the wallet address
Everything above represents a massive becomes the new email address.
shift in control and access, and in the mental
model people have of how things work around 4. Understanding the layers, levels, or zones of
identity, data, and ownership. permission people can grant to businesses
through their wallet. We expect almost nobody
Four life-centric requirements stand out: will be willing to define token-by-token access
every time they’re asked. So how can it
1. S
howing people that the control they be designed as a quicker task? How can it be
will get over their data privacy—and how much made easy for the user to set up and control
better this is than the status quo— layers of access? Every extra step in addition
is absolutely worth the time they’ll need to those that people take now will lead to a
to invest to manage it effectively. drop-off in engagement, so how do designers
mitigate that?
+ photo realistic, sharp focus, 35mm photography, change 100, ar 16:9 2. Making tokens easy to obtain and use in day-to-
day transactions. Simple onboarding is essential.
Right now, crypto is far too complex, so it’ll be
important to learn from experience and shape
the future with empathy for all users.

It bears repeating that it’s early days—we envisage

it’ll take between three and ten years to play out
fully—but leaders need to be talking about and
strategizing around it right now. This technology
exists, it works, and it’s meeting the human need,
but it has two big barriers to mass adoption. The
first: will governments, advertisers, and brands
truly engage with it, and does it deliver a business
model that works for them? The second: will people
understand what it is, trust it, accept it and engage
with it en masse?
There is real tension here, and these things

are not a given.
+ acrylic painting, postmodernist, people only, optimistic, colorful, algorithm version 4, aspect ratio 3:2

Conclusion
Conclusion Shifts in control ultimately lead to shifts in power, and

these seemingly small shifts in control will alter power
dynamics on a systemic level.
The outcomes will look different from what we’ve In their roles as leaders, workers, customers,
seen before, thanks to changes in attitudes and consumers, creators, and human beings with
maturing technology. rights, people will be seeking ways to claw back
  some control. When the aftershocks finally
Marketing relationships will be altered as the power settle into a calmer pattern, people will open
dynamic shifts between brands and customers their eyes to see a new picture of progress. 
—the latter will have casting votes on brands’
permission spaces, and they’ll be able to ringfence
their data as they please. Leaders will need to
be prepared to reshape the power dynamic with
hybrid workers, for the good of innovation and
working relationships.

Authors
Mark Curtis Katie Burke Agneta Björnsjö Nick de la Mare Gretchen McNeely
Co-lead Metaverse Continuum Global Lead of Thought Leadership, Global Research Lead, North America Design Lead, Design Research Lead, North
Business Group, Sustainability Content and Offering, Metaverse Accenture Song Accenture Song America, Accenture Song
lead, Accenture Song Continuum Business Group,
Accenture Song
Mark Curtis is Global Head of Katie Burke is part of Accenture Song, Agneta leads the global Accenture As a Managing Director and Co- Gretchen McNeely is Group
Innovation and Thought Leadership and is the Global Lead of Thought Research team dedicated to lead of Song Design in North Design Director and Song Design
for Accenture Song. Currently in Leadership, Content, and Offering for driving innovative and ground- America, Nick is responsible for Research Lead, North America.
that role he co-leads Accenture’s the Metaverse Continuum Business breaking research and thought craft excellence, and driving the She is a seasoned UX and
Metaverse Continuum Business Group. She serves as the co-lead leadership for Accenture Song. region in the pursuit of paradigm- design strategist with a
Group. He also leads Sustainability of the annual Accenture Life Trends She was a co-author of the Human shifting, impact-driven convergent background in physical product,
for customer, brand and experience. report, as well as leading Accenture Paradox published in 2022 and Life design that breaks new ground for environmental and service
He co-founded design agency Song’s ground-up innovation Reimagined 2021.  clients and contributes to positive design, and digital content.
Fjord in 2001. Fjord was acquired by programs, that explore emerging systemic change around the world.
Accenture in May 2013. technologies and their intersections
with humans, interactions, and brands.

Contributors Acknowledgements
Accenture Song
Alexandre Naressi Abigail Miller Danilo Ramírez Chaves Isobel Loseby Luisa Pessoa Niklas Wiedemann Swin June Turk
Baiju Shah Ajay Murthy David Johannes Krogh Ito Yuki Malope Taetso Phasha Paula Regidor Tatevik Lind
Brett Hornung Akimoto Haruka David Kim Izzy Marsh Marcello Pirovano Petroula Elliott Thibaut Langlet
Chloé Cappelier Alejandro Segura Eduardo Kranz Jasper Wiese Margherita Stanga Phoebe Morrison Thomas Jossa
Dallas Holland Aleks Romano Eduardo Villalobos Jenny Solano Odio Maria Casey Prakhar Mehrotra Tim Olbrich
David Treat Alexandra Williams Elena Tecce João Pereira Maria João Fonseca Rachael Goude Tom Verschueren
Dominic Paolino Alissar Diamenti Emelie Kem Jose Ramirez Marie Michels Robin Dauchot Tommaso Ottaviani
Elisabeth Edvardsen Amanda Villarreal Emma Carpenter Josefin Meyer Marina Le Roux Rodrigo Rico Tuva Lunde Smestad
Helen Tweedy Ana Clara Lopez Erin Jacob Josué González Quirós Marion Duncan Rui Teimao Valentina Morales
Joshua Bellin Anastasia Hansen Eugene Daubry Juan Carlos Pedraza Marta Fontana Ruth Elliott Viraj V Joshi
Josh Woods Angela Cerón Fernanda Romagnoli Kaoru Sato Martina Turano Sabrina Campagna Vittoria Scatiggio
Juliana Azuero Anna Jezegabel Francesca Zambon Karina Lopez Meg Squires Sakurai Haruka Watanabe Kosuke
Lewis Harvey Ash Stadlin-Robbie Frederik Severyns Katrine Rau Mireya Fernandez Velasco Sam Kragtwijk Wendy Ooi
Marvin Miranda Barbara Cuevas Viquez Gabriel Moya Kitani Shizuka Moma Zúñiga Sander van de Pavoordt William Page
Nick Law Cara Aerts Gareth Hughes Laura Diaz Mon Patel Sanika Ratanpal Yannick Peers
Omaro Maseli Carly Thompson Giorgia Cazzanelli Laura Oliver Mónica Gómez Sanya Sud
Quezia Soares Carmen Stamato Giulia Begal Laura Poluzzi Montse Zamorano Sara Parra Aguirre
Rahel Rasu Chloe Kim Grace Hughes Leonie Hesse Moritz Casonati Sebastian Ordoñez
Choi Sojung Gregório Bandeira Livia Enderli Natalie Rubin Sheena Patel
Chris Wickes Gustavo Dolabella Lode Rummens Nicolas Hobson Sheldon Hall
Christine Truc-Modica Hanna McLachlan Lucia Ramirez-Montt Nikki Van Oostende Signe Elise Livgard
Connor Gaughan Hannes Mayrhofer Luciana Estrada Rastko Kovacevic Simon Nagel
Damion Rosso Honma Minatsu Luis Roy Rina Strydom Simone Serasini
Daniel Quirós Villalobos Isabelle Nielen Luisa Pacheco Robert Hulmes Sofia Lopez Zendejas

Acknowledgements (continued)
Accenture Accenture Accenture

Canvas M+C Research
Carlos Hildalgo Alex Abraham Ajay Garg
Chad Balkum Alexander Claremont Bridget Connelly
Channing Williford Andrea Barabino Gabriel Schmittlein
Charleston McNair Andreea Macsiniuc Gaurav Jai Kumar
Duncan Marshall Andy Flight Gerry Farkova
Elaine Stroumboulos Artur Scherer Ravi Advani
Grace Lerman Ashley Williams Michael Malinoski
Gregory Vasey Atique Ullah Sandra Najem
Greg Kaplan Dede Jackson
Ji Myung Nana Sheppard Florencia Shekerdemian
Karey Cannon Hanna Hinson
Kevin Johnson Inna Lifshin
Krista Knudtsen Julian McBride
Laura Small Keith Upton
Minna Ninova Kelly Lucy Salat
Parker Luchetti Harrington Maigan Triplett
Peter Ostebo Narayan Devdhar
Rafael Garcia Nikki Domingo
Tony Rizzuto Pauline Norkiewicz
Victoria Nadal Robert Zapalski
Rosie Milton-Schönemann
Sheryl-Sue Sober
Stephen Connors
Tatjana Berg
Tina Janczura

About the research  
Crowdsourcing from our people Experience Innovation Radar
Each year, we ask Accenture Song’s We worked with Accenture Song R&D in Sophia
global network of designers, creatives, Antipolis, France, to broaden our perspective of
technologists, sociologists, and anthropologists emerging signals using the Experience Innovation
to watch out for potentially influential signals and Radar, a proprietary high-frequency signal research
trends impacting their communities and countries. process focused on the intersection of human,
We run trends workshops throughout July–August technology and business trends.
in 40+ locations around the world, then teams
pitch their top ideas to the editorial team in
Validating our trends
August–September. This year, we used an internal
online platform and captured over 450 unique
We validated our trends themes externally in
signals across other Accenture Song communities.
two steps. First, we ran online focus groups in
seven markets (UK, US, Brazil, China, France,
We processed nearly 4,000 sentences of text
South Africa, and India) with a total of 587
and audio data and fed them into our NLP topic
participants. Secondly, we ran an online survey
modeling algorithm. This algorithm created 40+
across 20 countries with 14,500 participants in
key topics from the trends conversations, which
December 2022.
were then used to accelerate and inform the trend
synthesis process. From there, the editorial team
Once the trends were refined, we put them to
worked together to further synthesize, shape, and
the test with Accenture’s own experts in Talent
refine the trends report.
and Organization, Commerce, Technology,
Sustainability, Research and Development,
among others.

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33 Lacoste, Twitter, June 14, 2022 network into Magic Boost” November 1, 2022 career ambitions,” November 30, 2018 Paris and speed limits cut,” September 1, 2022
https://twitter.com/LACOSTE/status/1536639997096480768 https://dailyhodl.com/2022/11/01/magic-square-rebrands-its- https://hbr.org/2018/11/a-simple-way-to-map-out-your-career- https://www.childinthecity.org/2021/09/01/streets-to-schools-rolled-
ultimate-web-3-0-affiliate-network-into-magic-boost/ ambitions out-in-paris-and-speed-limits-cut/
34 The Internet’s Team, Wagmi United. Accessed: November 28, 2022
https://wagmiunited.com 43 Annie Midori Atherton, BBC, “The young workers flocking to ‘career 51 Hannah Meacham, PhD & Nathan Eva, PhD, Psychreg, “Covid has
influencers’,” November 2, 2022 made it harder to give informal feedback,” June 26, 2020; Updated
04 OK, Creativity
35 Asa Hiken, Marketing Dive, “Bacardi pairs purpose with NFTs to https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20221028-the-young-workers- August 12, 2022
60 Github.com, “Awesome Stable Diffusion,” Accessed: November 28,
empower fan investment in music diversity,” October 13, 2021 flocking-to-career-influencers https://www.psychreg.org/covid-made-harder-give-informal-
2022
https://www.marketingdive.com/news/bacardi-pairs-purpose-with- feedback/
https://github.com/awesome-stable-diffusion/awesome-stable-
nfts-to-empower-fan-investment-in-music-diversit/608126/
03 As it was 52 Dominic Price, Atlassian, “It’s time to stop measuring productivity,”
diffusion
36 KC Ifeanyi, Fast Company “Doodles domination: how a 1-year-old NFT June 29, 2022
44 Accenture Research, online focus group sessions hosted from 61 Annalee Newitz, NewScientist, “The success of text-to-image AIs
project turned into the next big thing,” September 13, 2022 https://www.atlassian.com/blog/productivity/the-problem-with-
October 11-13, 2022, across UK, US, South Africa, India, China, France raises major ethical issues,” October 12, 2022
https://www.fastcompany.com/90783396/doodles-domination-how- productivity-metrics
and Brazil (n=~587) https://www.newscientist.com/article/2341920-the-success-of-text-to-
a-1-year-old-nft-project-turned-into-the-next-big-thing
image-ais-raises-major-ethical-issues/
53 Michaela Jarvis, MIT News, “Analysis of email traffic suggests remote
45 Ciara Jones and Dan Colasimone, MSN, ABC News, “Covid saw
37 Starbucks Stories & news, “Starbucks brewing revolutionary Web3 work may stifle innovation,” September 1, 2022
millions of Australians start working from home. As the pandemic 62 Tanya Lewis, Live Science, “A brief history of artificial intelligence,”
experience for its Starbucks Rewards members,” September 12, 2022 https://news.mit.edu/2022/remote-work-may-innovation-0901
recedes, do we want to return to the office?,” October 9, 2022 December 9, 2021
https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2022/starbucks-brewing-
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/brisbane/covid-saw-millions-of- https://www.livescience.com/49007-history-of-artificial
revolutionary-Web3-experience-for-its-starbucks-rewards-members/ 54 Neal Stanton, Forbes, “The impact of remote work on productivity
australians-start-working-from-home-as-the-pandemic-recedes-do- -intelligence.html
and creativity,” January 14, 2022
we-want-to-return-to-the-office/ar-AA12LXg7
38 Stephanie Hurder, Yahoo! Finance, “Can Starbucks bring Web3 into https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/01/14/the-
63 Papers With Code, “GPT-3”. Accessed: November 28, 2022
the mainstream?,” October 4, 2022 impact-of-remote-work-on-productivity-and-creativity
46 Alok Patel and Stephanie Plowman, Gallup, “The increasing https://paperswithcode.com/method/gpt-3
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/starbucks-bring-Web3-
importance of a best friend at work,” August 17, 2022
mainstream-155340815.html 55 Brent Hyder, Salesforce, “Introducing Trailblazer Ranch: igniting the
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/397058/increasing-importance- 64 OpenAI, “ChatGPT: Optimizing language models for dialogue,”
next chapter of Salesforce’s culture,” February 10, 2022
best-friend-work.aspx November 30, 2022
39 Reddit Inc, “Blockchain-backed collectible avatars coming to Reddit https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/introducing-trailblazer-
https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/
via new storefront,” July 7, 2022 ranch/
47 Dominic Price, Atlassian, “It’s time to stop measuring productivity,”
https://www.redditinc.com/blog/blockchain-backed-collectible-
June 29, 2022 65 Magenta. Accessed: November 28, 2022
avatars-coming-to-reddit-via-new-storefront 56 Joanna Partridge, The Guardian, “Thursday the new Friday as UK
https://www.atlassian.com/blog/productivity/the-problem-with- https://magenta.tensorflow.org/
returns to office for ‘core’ midweek days,” May 24, 2022
productivity-metrics
40 Kyle Wiggers, Techcrunch, “Redditors have created millions of crypto https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/may/24/thursday-new-
66 Jarvis: Songwriting AI Companion. Accessed: November 28, 2022
wallets to buy NFT avatars,” October 19, 2022 friday-uk-returns-to-the-office-midweek-days-remote-working
48 Microsoft WorkLab, “Hybrid work is just work. Are we doing it wrong?,” https://www.jarvis-lyrics.com/
https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/18/redditors-have-created-millions-
September 22, 2022
of-crypto-wallets-to-buy-nft-avatars/ 57 Cajsa Carlson, Dezeen, “This week drone footage revealed the
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/hybrid- 67 OpenAI, Jukebox, April 30, 2020
construction of The Line megacity,” October 22, 2022
work-is-just-work? https://openai.com/blog/jukebox/
https://www.dezeen.com/2022/10/22/this-week-drone-footage-
construction-the-line-saudi-arabia/

68 Mureji Fatunde and Crystal Tse, Bloomberg, “Stability AI raises seed 78 Daniel Eckler, Twitter, September 20, 2022 05 Signed, sealed, delivered 97 Jason Wise, Earthweb, “Metamask statistics 2022: how many people
round at $1 billion value,” October 17, 2022 https://twitter.com/daniel_eckler/status/157221042561339 use metamask?,” October 10, 2022
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-17/digital-media- 8016?s=20&t=W- lhg6E8JS_EaCsz-Z96RQ 88 Hannah Stewart, Learn G2, “The cookieless future: why are cookies https://earthweb.com/metamask-statistics/
firm-stability-ai-raises-funds-at-1-billion-value going away?,” February 9, 2022
79 Daniel Eckler, Twitter, September 20, 2022 https://learn.g2.com/cookieless-future 98 Karl Flinders, ComputerWeekly.com, “More than 60% of world
69 OpenAI, DALL-E 2. Accessed: November 28, 2022 https://twitter.com/daniel_eckler/status/1572211286850830337?s=20 population will use digital wallets by 2026,” August 3, 2022
https://openai.com/dall-e-2/ &t=W-lhg6E8JS_EaCsz-Z96RQ 89 Anthony Spadafora, Techradar, “Struggling with password overload? https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252523455/More-than-60-
You’re not alone,” October 21, 2022 of-world-population-will-use-digital-wallets-by-2026
70 Kyle Wiggers, TechCrunch, “Microsoft brings DALL-E 2 to the masses 80 Jim Clyde Monge, CodeX | Medium, September 20, 2022 https://www.techradar.com/news/most-people-have-25-more-
with Designer and Image Creator,” October 12, 2022 https://medium.com/codex/stable-diffusion-arrives-in-photoshop- passwords-than-at-the-start-of-the-pandemic 99 Tom Philips, NFCW, “Linux Foundation launches open source digital
https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/12/microsoft-brings-dall-e-2-to-the- heres-how-to-install-3db277491023 wallet project,” September 15, 2022
masses-with-designer-and-image-creator 90 Alyssa Quander Riley, Learn G2, “Cookieless marketing: how to adapt https://www.nfcw.com/2022/09/15/379227/linux-foundation-
81 Maggie Harrison, The Byte, “Google creates AI that turns text into 3D your marketing mix,” May 28, 2022 launches-open-source-digital-wallet-project/
71 Matthew Carlson, Hackaday, “Stable Diffusion and why it matters” objects,” October 2, 2022 https://learn.g2.com/cookieless-marketing
September 6, 2022 https://futurism.com/the-byte/google-ai-text-into-3d-objects 100 Tom Philips, NFCW, “Linux Foundation launches open source digital
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73 Daniel Eckler, Twitter, September 20, 2022
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74 Daniel Eckler, Twitter, September 20, 2022 b3c2-348dfe7ea31d
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&t=W-lhg6E8JS_EaCsz-Z96RQ

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and power and wild, and sometimes it’s extremely unsettling.

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AI-generated art: approach / AI PROMPT

A true partnership between human ingenuity

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/ AI PROMPT / ADDITIONAL HUMAN USER PROMPTS

Waves of crises, one after the other, have come

+ surreal, algorithm version 4, change 100

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What’s going on

There’s no sugar-coating it: the world seems to

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When will the macroeconomic While people are busy fighting

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+ 35mm photography, algorithm version 4, aspect ratio 3:2, change 100

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The instability is also emphasizing the

Over the past 40 years or more, stability and

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Periods of instability are a fact of life and,

In a slight adjustment to the generally

+ abstract, texture, wallpaper, algorithm version 4

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Fight: While the current situation in Iran is one of the

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Flight: Flight response is often characterized by the

The flight reaction is also a spectrum. It may be

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Focus: initiatives to organize community shopping and

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‘Resignation’ more often relates to quitting something, but

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Freeze: The energy is running low, but music, art and

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A sense of belonging is one of humanity’s most

+ style of romanticist painting, aspect ratio 16:9, change 100

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What’s going on

People are seeking out new places online where

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Right now, we see three threads converging: communities of interests

The groups have begun to experiment with tokenized experiences

+ aspect ratio 3:2, change 100, algorithm version 4

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The progression of digital communities is prompting brands

Communities are forming around digital collectibles, which

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Customers have proven time “Token-gating” is growing in

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