If you’ve been thinking about AI and how it will impact your job and your future - and let’s face it, who hasn’t - you may find yourself turning to an AI personal companion for advice and support in 2025.
I’ve been tracking the rise of AI learning, coaching, mentoring and emotional and mental support apps over the last couple of years with great interest. Most are still clunky and/or siloed, and best used superficially - with a pinch of salt!
It was only a matter of time before we saw the release of an AI that gives us a sense of being better understood. Early in December, Microsoft released a preview of their voice-enabled Copilot Vision to a limited number of Pro subscribers in the US via Copilot Labs.
In a recent interview, Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, described Vision as feeling like “another digital species” with “a new plane of connection” that acts “like a second brain” and a “thought partner and companion”.
There’s some background here. Suleyman co-founded DeepMind (acquired by Google in 2014) before co-founding Inflection AI in 2022, which developed Pi.ai (proclaimed the first ‘emotionally intelligent’ AI), before joining Microsoft in March this year.
We can think of this development as the next step in multimodal AI becoming ‘universal’, deepening its omnipresence. Rather than visiting various platforms or domains to use AI for different purposes, it will act as a constant companion on all of your devices, hearing what you hear, seeing what you see, and remembering what you’ve worked on.
An easy-to-talk-to assistant (with a human-like voice), helping you analyse complex data in seconds, coaching you through a difficult learning curve or role-playing an upcoming tricky negotiation. A constant resource that ‘understands’ you, acting as a friend, thought partner, sounding board or devil’s advocate, giving you advice and feedback on the fly. An AI companion that picks up on how you feel by the tone of your voice, providing you with emotional support when needed.
Essentially, your personal filter on the world that is on your team and serves your interests in any given situation.
Google’s Gemini 2.0 models are not far behind, signalling similar capabilities with the release of Project Astra next year. But there’s a tradeoff here. As enticing as all of this sounds, you’ll only get the full benefits if you’re prepared to invite an AI companion or assistant into your every waking moment.
💡You’ll find more AI-related links at the end of this article.
This raises significant concerns - the obvious being privacy and security. Do you really want an AI to ‘know’ you this well, leaving you vulnerable to human or digital coercion, manipulation or yet-to-be-imagined hacks? And who or what will own or have access to (and use of) your data? If you work for a company and use their licence, you’ll likely have no choice but to reveal your ‘whole self’ at work!
Playing this movie forward… Will you know if you’re dealing with the person you employed, your boss, your clients - or with their AI companions? And will the future of job interviews mean your AI companion is interviewed, with or without you? What about dating? And will we form deep and meaningful connections with our AI companions, becoming emotionally attached or dependent on them?
More importantly, will we suffer from the illusion of being fully understood and rely on AI to ‘think’ critically about our lives and the world on our behalf?
I’m all for AI picking up the slack in repetitive, time-consuming tasks and helping us to learn, grow, and find solutions to the big pressing issues of our times. As Jensen Huang of Nvidia said in a recent talk, "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"
However, for every upside in making our lives infinitely easier, there are downsides and a vast open landscape of unknowable human and societal consequences.
While we ponder the pros and cons, we also need to be aware that our AI companions or assistants will be agentic, able to act autonomously to achieve goals and outcomes without needing our constant guidance.
Sounds brilliant!
What could go wrong?
Be the Wayfinder: 2025
As 2024 draws to a close, I’ve been thinking more deeply about how we can better prepare ourselves for the coming year and beyond. The future of work and AI—and our place in it—need not be fuelled by uncertainty if we develop how rather than what (which will keep changing) we think about it.
While we humans are notoriously bad at predicting the future with any accuracy, we can extrapolate from the past (data), and the present (trends and signals of change) to proactively navigate potential new realities. I’ve had the privilege of working with some incredible people and teams this year, and their present trends are beginning to tell a very different story about shaping the future they desire.
Those who have embarked on developing their ‘future-focused’ thinking and capabilities report experiencing more adaptability, creativity and innovative behaviours, better team dynamics and coherence, less anxiety, stress and conflict, and most importantly, greater ease in macro and micro decision-making. The elixir.
On the surface of things, these changes may appear to be subtle. However, like a fork in the road or a 1° shift in course, the gap always widens significantly over a short period of time.
I’m thinking of leaders able to navigate this era of work with greater ease as wayfinders, pathfinders and in some cases, trailblazers. People who can steer their organisations through unchartered territories with courage, using new ways of doing things. It makes me think of Tom Hardy’s character in ‘Inception’ when he says: “You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling!”
And the good news? This chapter is not yet written—we can all develop the very human attributes, competencies and skills to get better at this.
"The future interests me - I'm going to spend the rest of my life there." Mark Twain
As we contemplate what we want 2025 to be, I thought I’d share six questions from Professor Sohail Inayatullah (UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies) to help you open up your thinking—and your conversations—about the future. You can repurpose these to use in any context to uncover your current perspective on the future, and what you need to do to be in action of the future you desire.
I also suggest doing this with your team. Keep it light, there is no right or wrong. Rather, it’s a great way of surfacing how we individually and collectively think about the future. Alvin Toffler said it best when he proclaimed:
"In dealing with the future, it is far more important to be imaginative than to be right."
Will: What do you think (predict) the future will be like?
Fear: Which future are you afraid of?
Hidden Assumptions: What are the hidden assumptions of your predicted future?
Alternative Futures: What are some alternatives to your feared or predicted futures?
Preferred Future: What is your preferred or desired future?
Next Steps: How might you get there?
If you’re interested in developing your team or organisation’s ability to navigate the future, bookings for the Future-Focused Leadership Masterclass and Keynote are now open for 2025.
✨ Until next time, wishing you and yours a wonderful festive season.
Best, Louise
Useful Links
More Depth
If you’re reading Relevant: Future-Focused Leadership, you’ll find more depth on the topics I’ve mentioned:
AI: Part III, Chapter 13: Living in an AI-Infused World (in a section titled: Leading an AI-Infused Future)
Thinking and Skills: Part I, Chapter 1: Being Future Fit (in a section titled: Future-Fit Attributes)
Futures: Part IV, Chapter 20: Futures and Foresight
Ethics and AI: Part II, Chapter 9: Ethics and Decision-Making (in a section titled: Ethics and AI)
Wayfinding: Part IV, Chapter 19: Complexity, Sensemaking and Wayfinding (in a section titled: Wayfinding)
AI Related Links
Regulating AI: Mustafa Suleyman on Copilot Vision, AI Companions, Infinite Memory, AI Agents, and more
Rowan Cheung: Mustafa Suleyman on Copilot Vision, AI Companions, Infinite Memory, AI Agents, and more
Nvidia: What is Agentic AI?
Rowan Cheung: Demis Hassabis on Gemini 2.0, Project Astra, Agents, Gaming with Elon, and more
Google DeepMind: Project Astra | Exploring the future capabilities of a universal AI assistant
If you’re interested in digging into big tech/bio/energy themes and signals, Amy Webb’s “Annual Letter: 2025 Macro Themes + 2024 Signals Review” is well worth the read.
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