Futures of AI and Human Collaboration

Over recent decades, digital tools have come to mediate how we communicate, collaborate and coordinate at work. In offices, virtual meetings, emails, digital project management systems and other digital tools are part of everyday work. In manufacturing, digital tools are equally commonplace, from coordinating production schedules and workflows to monitoring quality and tracking materials.

As we adopt AI systems and tools across workplaces, we can see and feel that they are not only changing how we do our work but also how we work together as humans. Automated tasks and processes, real-time AI guidance and AI-supported coordination are just some examples of how AI is shaping how we collaborate with our colleagues, our team, within and between organisations. Many see possibilities for more effective and meaningful collaboration as a result of using these systems and while there are experiences pointing towards more negative directions, one example being the so-called ‘AI Slop’ that is reported to erode trust and harm productivity in organisations, as reported by Forbes.

It is within this context that Media Evolution, in collaboration with DigIT Hub Sweden, invites professionals from diverse backgrounds, across knowledge work and manufacturing, to explore the futures of AI and human-to-human collaboration at work: how relationships, trust, communication, coordination, knowledge-sharing, creativity and collective decision-making might evolve as AI systems become more embedded in our organisations and everyday work.

Bringing together diverse perspectives and experiences, we will together explore what collaboration means today across our different work contexts, scan for signals of change and imagine multiple possible future scenarios. These might include new forms of teamwork and cross-organisational collaboration, changing roles, power dynamics, ways of organising and relationships between colleagues. We will intentionally take a longer-term perspective to imagine different implications of the changes we’re seeing today while making room for the uncertainty around AI development and adoption.

Rather than trying to predict the future, we will work with current uncertainties and shifts to imagine multiple possible scenarios of what might change, what we want to foster and how we might actively shape futures in which people can work meaningfully and effectively together.

How to participate – there are two ways to participate.

1. Join the open seminars and community workshops

We invite anyone working with or simply curious about the topic of AI and human collaboration to join the following open workshops. We are actively seeking a diverse range of perspectives and experiences to inform the process.

The workshops will take place in person at Media Evolution in Malmö. Participation is free of charge, but places are limited.

• Opening Reflections and Signal Scanning workshop, 16 October 2026, 9:00 - 12:00. Register here. This session will begin with reflections from three practitioners and researchers on the shifts they are observing. The presentations will be followed by a workshop part where you will be invited to share your own observations, and discuss others’, of how human collaboration at work is already changing as a result of AI.

• Open Community Critique workshop, 11 November 2026, 9:30 - 12:00, registration will open soon. A morning session where a broader community is invited to encounter the Core Group's draft scenarios, challenge assumptions, identify perspectives or consequences that may be missing, and offer constructive feedback.

• Closing seminar and book launch (launching soon) Join us to celebrate the completion of the cycle, to find out what we learned, and be among the first to get a copy of the book!

2. Join the core group

For this Collaborative Foresight cycle, we will convene a core group of participants from diverse backgrounds who have professional, academic or lived experiences of, and interest in, how AI shapes human collaboration at work. We are particularly interested in bringing together people working in different environments: from offices and distributed teams to factories and production settings.

As part of the core group, you will spend a total of three days together with the group, facilitated by the Media Evolution foresight team. Drawing on your different expertise and experiences, you will identify and make sense of signals and drivers of change shaping the futures of AI and human collaboration at work. You will develop these into scenarios describing a range of possible futures and explore what they might mean for relationships, coordination and collaboration within teams, across workplaces and between organisations. From there, you will lay out approaches and strategies for what organisations and individuals might do to prepare for, adapt to and actively and intentionally shape how we collaborate in the future.

As a Core Group participant, you’ll get access to our unique method and tools for practicing foresight in a collaborative setting. You’ll walk away with novel insights, connections and skills and methods to bring futures thinking and Collaborative Foresight into your own work, team or organisation.

How to join the Core Group

Register your interest here. We will get back to you as soon as possible.

Participation is free of charge, but places are limited and will be allocated in order to achieve the broadest possible range of relevant perspectives and experiences.

Please note that because this cycle is part of an EU-funded project, as core contributor, you will be requested to sign a de minimis certificate (companies), or a value certificate (värdeintyg) (public sector organisations). You can read more about it here.

The workshops will take place in-person at Media Evolution in Malmö as full-day sessions (8.30am-16:00) on Fridays 23 October, 6 November and 20 November 2026.

How we share

The insights that emerge during this Collaborative Foresight cycle will be captured in a book featuring scenarios, immersive stories and practitioner and expert perspectives. The book will be published in spring 2027.

Context

This Collaborative Foresight cycle is hosted by Media Evolution in collaboration with DigIT Hub Sweden. DigIT Hub Sweden supports digital transformation in companies and the public sector in southern Sweden. The initiative is co-funded by the European Union, Tillväxtverket, Växjö Linnaeus Science Park, Region Blekinge and Region Skåne.