The Future isn't Inevitable, it's Intentional

Written By Caitlin Mayance

Over the past year, I've been tracking tiny cracks appearing in the "tech solves everything" façade. Where there are cracks, there are opportunities and last week, those cracks became a whopping big window.

From Klarna's u-turn1 after replacing 700 customer service roles with AI, only to reinvest in human-led support months later, to Duolingo getting roasted by Gen Z for going "AI-first"2 and losing the personality that made them king of the socials (later backtracking.) Then a UK study revealed that 47% of young people would prefer a world without the internet…entirely.3

All this on top of the predicted great exhaustion, current enshittification, the meh-gorithm. We’re tired, nothing works and everything looks the same.

I hate to say I told you so. Wherever you look is another AI-assisted product, initiative, workplace, program. I get it. But it’s also just a bit too much. It’s "AI-powered" everything time, from smart glasses to agents that promise to buy your groceries and help you concieve.

So it's only natural that we begin to resist the hype. For every trend, there's a counter-trend, and perhaps AI-assisted everything is just the propaganda you won't be falling for?4 We're already seeing signs: the rise of appstinence,5 the popularity of dumb phones,6 and new legislation banning phones in schools.7

This resistance isn't coming from the usual technophobic luddite suspects. Nope, instead it’s the generation that grew up terminally online. Surprise! They're not so much anti-tech, as they are anti-being-treated-like-products-to-optimise-rather-than people-to-help.

When 70% of young people report feeling worse after spending time online, that's no longer a niche experience. That's pretty massive design failure.

The crack is a window. The window is open. We’ve got options so what are we going to do about it?

What’s next?

“Stop thinking of AI as doing the work of 50% of the people. Start thinking of AI as doing 50% of the work for 100% of the people”

Common sense from NVIDIA CEO, Jensen Huang

While Zuck and the bros circle-jerk over their Meta/Google glasses, something potentially more intentional is happening over on team Jony Ive & OpenAI. According to the FT:

"I think we have the opportunity here to kind of completely reimagine what it means to use a computer," OpenAI founder Sam Altman said. Ive mentioned he was working on the "unintended consequences" of the iPhone, citing potentially adverse effects that smartphones and social media have on users.8

Maybe where we’re going, we won’t need phones.

Not all innovation demands reinvention. On the other side of the future coin is Rimowa creating headlines with their knack for balancing heritage with innovation.9 As Rimowa CEO Hugues Bonnet-Masimbert puts it, true innovation "directly improves the customer experience." No snazzy viral-seeking gimmicks, just better design.

These are two responses to the same question: what should the future of products look like? One bets on disruption, the other on durability. Both are valid.

What connects them? Intentionality.

The future isn't predetermined, but we will create it. We're in a moment where the next decade of technological development could go in radically different directions depending on who makes the decisions and what values guide those choices.

If you're building brands, products, creating content, or leading transformation, this moment requires our intentional, active decision-making about what kind of future we want to build.

Redefine What “Good” Looks Like

The best product isn't necessarily the most advanced. It's the one that respects people's time, attention, and agency. Low friction is done. Intentional, considered friction is in.

Design for Digital Discernment

Plan for your audience to ask: Why am I seeing this? Why does it exist? What's the cost to my focus, my privacy, my values? Pre-design your answer. Build content and experiences that feel like help. Be useful, don't just build because you got budget to burn.

Lead with Empathy, Not Efficiency

Fast won't beat thoughtful in this intentional future. Take Klarna's U-turn as your case study. Invest in your people, and use AI to amplify their impact, not replace their essential, human-to-human experience.

The tools already exist to make all of this possible. It’s not capability that’s missing, but intention.

Let’s get intentional

There is mild urgency with this one. The current system shows cracks yes, but those cracks can just as easily be patched over with even more product releases. Let's calibrate our nihilism and naivety.

The conversation has shifted from "how do we get people to engage more?" to "how do we build things that really serve people?"

What if your content strategy wasn't about keeping people scrolling, but helping them find what they need and get back to their lives? What if your brand became known for freeing attention rather than capturing it?

Don't just adapt to technological change. Help direct it.

The future isn't inevitable, it's intentional.

Caitlin Mayance https://nouvot.co
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