Trend Trend D: Transition to a superintelligent society

Summary

Physical AI and general-purpose robots that judge and act without human intervention are expected to emerge and move society toward one with far less human labour. AI-based innovation across finance, manufacturing, education and defence is paired with a race to secure data sovereignty, power infrastructure and quantum technology, which will decide national competitiveness in a new superintelligence paradigm. The trend groups issues on human coexistence with AI and robots, AI and robot-driven industries and new infrastructure for the superintelligence era. Experts rated it among the trends with the largest impact, and cross-impact analysis showed it strongly shaping other trends while depending little on them. It was selected as one of three dominant drivers for the 2050 scenarios.