About
Shapeshift Summit: About
Why Responsible AI?
Every two years, ID gathers leaders around a persistent area of concern.
ID’s 2024–25 Global Shapeshift Series shifts the current focus on AI—from technology to real-world applications, from Silicon Valley to other parts of the world. By doing so, we can be intentional about the innovations we want, leapfrog legacy systems, and lead radical new implementations.
The hype cycle will end.
Over the last few years, a new triumvirate of technologies—AI, AR, and robotics—has radically transformed how we work, play, learn, and communicate.
But what happens when the hype cycle is over?
Let’s decide what happens next.
We need serious conversations about what changes these technologies will bring about, who will be affected by them, and what guardrails and policies need to be in place to harness the power of these technologies effectively.
Our Way Forward
Join Your Colleagues
In our Shapeshift events, learners, leaders, and organizations build action plans for using AI in persistent areas of concern that are both local and global in scale.
Attendees will include:
- Business and organizational leaders looking for novel implementation of AI solutions
- Design professionals and leaders looking to lead AI implementations
- Educators and students seeking to learn from experts in AI and design
- Government officials and policymakers interested in harnessing the power of AI
- Entrepreneurs looking to build new AI and design startups and ecosystems
- Technology enthusiasts interested in learning about responsible AI
- Design enthusiasts looking to learn from others in the AI and design space
Shaping Positive, Practical Applications
By focusing on real-world case studies, actionable insights, and tangible outcomes, Shapeshift attendees will discuss leveraging AI and other ascending technologies to solve complex challenges, create innovative products and services, and produce practical business value—all while driving positive social change.
Shifting from Big Tech
By incorporating voices and insights globally, the conference provides a diverse range of perspectives and ensures that the future of innovation is not directed only by the few companies who have the resources and the ability to push the boundaries of AI.
Shaping Policies and Priorities
Through collaboration across industry and academia, Shapeshift events equip attendees to navigate the rapidly changing landscape of ascending technologies. As platform adoption takes hold, these dialogues will ensure responsibility is seen as a priority not just by organizational leaders, but also government and policy leaders.
Global Salons in 2024
In 2024, the Institute of Design collaborated with global partners to host locally-organized salons in Auckland, New Zealand; Tokyo, Japan; Pune, India; and New York City. Each salon discussed the possibilities of using AI for a distinct local concern focused on networks, systems, and the human experience. The lessons from these salons will serve as a starting point for the conversations at the 2025 Shapeshift summit.
Salon Date: November 13, 2024
Leaders who are at the center of moving AI capabilities into media, publishing, and knowledge tools explored how we can make this transition responsibly. We considered how AI is already changing media and information consumption, what we are learning through the design of new AI tools, the risks and concerns of using AI in media, and potential future directions.
Speakers Included:
• Daisy Alioto, CEO, Dirt
• Yosef Johnson, SVP, Head of VOX Creative, VOX Media
• Robin Kwong, Director of Product Management and Data Services, Yahoo News
• Jun Lee, GEMIC Consulting
• Anijo Mathew, Dean, Institute of Design at Illinois Tech
• Judd Morgenstern, Partners Resolute
• Albert Shum, Advisor to the Dean, ID and former CVP of Design, Microsoft
Co-Hosted by Steelcase and ID Alumni
Salon Date: October 7, 2024
In Pune, we considered how to engage AI to empower marginalized communities, bridge digital divides, and unlock new avenues for skill acquisition and economic empowerment.
With its vast population and diverse socioeconomic landscape, India represents a microcosm of the global challenges and opportunities we face in achieving inclusive growth and skill development. India has a substantial informal/unorganized labor sector which comprises millions of workers, including street vendors, construction laborers, and domestic helpers. Such a situation requires an inclusive approach to skills development.
By leveraging AI, India can pave the way for innovative solutions that empower these marginalized communities. Large language models could provide on-demand skills training and troubleshooting guidance in vernacular languages—for example, enabling a newly trained Marathi-speaking plumber to learn advanced techniques or diagnosing issues using voice commands on their mobile phone. AI could also create personalized learning content tailored to informal sector workers’ specific needs and contexts, enhancing their skills acquisition and problem-solving abilities.
Speakers Included:
• Sanjay Dhande, Former Director of Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
• Dinanath Kholkar, Professor of Practice, COEP Tech University, former SVP and Global Head of Partner Ecosystems and Alliances at Tata Consultancy Services
• Amit Kundal, Associate Dean, FLAME University
• Pradnya Godbole, Centre for Excellence in Entrepreneurship and Development and CEO of deAsra Foundation
• Anijo Mathew, Dean, Institute of Design at Illinois Tech
• Ravi Mahamuni, Principal Scientist and Head of Design Research at Tata Consultancy Services
• Aman Mittal, Indian Administrative Services
• Chaitanya Nadkarni, Director of Digital and Technology Lead, Pfizer India
• Sameer Rawal, Social Innovation Consultant at Tata Consultancy Services
Co-Hosted by FLAME University and Tata Consultancy Services
Salon Date: October 3, 2024
In Tokyo, we considered mental wellbeing and mental trauma with the objective of prototyping key interventions we can embed into our systems.
Mental health is a serious issue around the world. In Japan, mental health is becoming a particularly serious problem, as evidenced through the high suicide rate (18 percent in Japan vs. 9 percent global average) and the ever-increasing number of people with mental illness (2002: 2.5 million vs. 2020: 6.2 million).
We can characterize this mental health epidemic as a wicked problem, a systemic issue that is exposed as a problem due to the complex intertwining of factors at all levels, from micro to meso to macro, including the work environment, economic system, education system, changes in family structure, access to medical care, and social and cultural stigma.
How can we reduce the trauma created by relationships among people and enhance wellbeing by looking at this issue from a systems perspective?
We discussed these questions and prototype key interventions that use AI and can be embedded into new systems.
Speakers Included:
• Yosuke Kurashima, CEO of Focus On Inc.
• Akane Mitsuyama, Planner, Urban Affairs Division, Nikken Sekkei Co.
• Kunitake Saso, CEO and Founder, Biotope
• Albert Shum, former CVP of Design, Microsoft
• Yusuke Suzuki, Akihabara Save Clinic
• Kazumasa (Kevin) Yamada, Strategic Designer, BIOTOPE
Co-Hosted by Biotope and Nikken Sekkei
Salon Date: September 13, 2024
In our first salon, we sought to understand how design can enable useful and valuable technologies for a range of democracies and cultures, including First Nations and Indigenous cultures.
Globally, we have seen that democracy is being threatened. Recently, because of COVID and the New Zealand election, questions surrounding sources of ‘authentic’ information have escalated, and New Zealanders found themselves questioning their reality.
So, will AI turbocharge or cripple democracy? Purposefully designed AI models can use unstructured datasets to help represent citizens’ views equally, with transparency. But who owns these models and what data are they trained on? Does the AI model truly represent people in an equitable way? These are just some of the questions we uncovered at our Auckland Salon.
Speakers Included:
• Roger Dennis, Foresight Consultant
• Hamish Friedlander, Head of Engineering and AI, Rush Digital
• Chelsea Pratt, Design Lead, ThoughtFull
• Alaina Luxmoore, Director of Marketing, Rush Digital
• Anijo Mathew, Dean, Institute of Design at Illinois Tech
• Albert Shum, Former CVP of Design, Microsoft
• Geoff Suvalko, Founder and Partner, ThoughtFull
• Terry Williams-Willcock, Chief Customer Officer, Rush Digital
Co-Hosted by Rush Digital, ThoughtFull, and the Designers Institute of New Zealand
Partners
Research Report: Taking Responsibility in the Age of AI
As we consider the potential of AI, we must also think about our responsibilities.
The Shapeshift 2024–25 Global Series is a practical extension of ID’s 2024 research report, Taking Responsibility in the Age of AI: Design Leads Organizations Through Five Urgent Challenges.