Living intelligence: The next big thing in tech

Artificial intelligence has been at the center of the tech world, but it’s not the only technology businesses need to prepare for. In the future, AI will combine with other advancing technologies to create a new wave of personalized AI capable of anticipating users’ actions and evolving independently, said Amy Webb, a futurist and professor at the NYU Stern School of Business, at the Harvard Business Review. This phenomenon, called living intelligence, could be the next big thing.

What is living intelligence?

Artificial intelligence is “just one of three groundbreaking technologies shifting the business landscape,” said Webb. The other two — advanced sensors and biotechnology — are “less visible, though no less important,” and have been “quietly advancing.” In the future, the convergence of these three technologies will “underpin a new reality that will shape the future decisions of every leader across industries.” This new living intelligence encompasses “systems that can sense, learn, adapt and evolve,” made possible through the mix of all three technologies.

The formation of living intelligence could “drive a supercycle of exponential growth and disruption across multiple industries,” said Inc. “Some companies are going to miss this,” said Webb. Laser focus on AI will lead them to “find out that they are disrupted again earlier than they thought they would [be].”

AI is “the foundation” and “everything engine” that will power the living intelligence technology supercycle, Webb said in a new report published by her Future Today Institute. The exponential costs of training large language models are driving the creation of smaller models that use less data. Providing this data will lead to a Cambrian Explosion of advanced sensors. Personalized data from wearable sensors will lead to the creation of personalized AI that predicts actions rather than words, said Webb.

Bioengineering, the third tech shaping the supercycle, has futuristic possible applications, including “computers made of organic tissue, such as brain cells,” said Inc. This “organoid intelligence” might “sound like science fiction,” but there are “already examples of AI revolutionizing various scientific fields.”

Why is it the next big thing?

For business owners, living intelligence “offers unprecedented opportunities,” said futurist Mark van Rijmenam at The Digital Speaker. Retailers could use predictive AI to “forecast demand with remarkable accuracy using emotion recognition and real-time sentiment analysis.” Health data from sensors could “revolutionize how companies tailor products and services, moving from reactive to proactive healthcare.” And despite being a seemingly distant factor, bioengineered solutions could “streamline supply chains and create new materials that outpace traditional processes.” Living intelligence is a “paradigm shift that will redefine success in every industry,” van Rijmenam added, as it “challenges companies to innovate responsibly, balancing technological potential with ethical responsibility.”

Although living intelligence may seem futuristic, “forward-thinking CEOs and business leaders cannot afford to wait,” said Webb. There are already signs of “convergence in living intelligence technologies across several leading-edge industries.” Early adoption is most visible in industries like “pharmaceuticals, medical products, health care, space, construction and engineering, consumer packaged goods and agriculture.” However, applications are coming to other industries soon. Businesses must resist the urge to fixate on AI, take a more “holistic view of the change already underway” and “prepare [their] organization[s] for the era of living intelligence.”