I remember sitting at a conference in New York about six or seven years ago — I can’t remember what it was — and there was a speaker from cutting edge Bay area design firm IDEO. She said futurists at the company were already designing for a world where humans no longer work. It is a world where technology, AI and robots would take over all the work we do.

On the surface, that might sound like a utopia where everyone can simply sit on the beach and slack off. But when you think about it, it would literally change the way the world functions. Would the world become a utopia where no one works and an AI workforce generates everything we need? Or a dystopia where humans are largely redundant, and wealth is increasingly concentrated in the hands of the technologically-enabled elite?

Where is technology heading and how will it change our lives?

I turned to the experts (online) to find a few technological advancements that are bound to change the world.

Increasingly, we are living our lives in a virtual world and experts predict that trend will continue. Virtual reality is reaching the point (predicted to be around 2040) when VR can create experiences that are indistinguishable from actual reality. How will that change the way we interact and live? How will it change the way spaces are designed?

Not all technology is frightening. Technology in the field of medicine is sure to help us heal and live longer lives. Personalized medicine is expected to change the way we are treated as patients. Advances in gene editing technologies like CRISPR-Cas9 may make it possible to correct many genetic disorders before birth. Regenerative medicine could allow medicine to “regrow” body parts.

Technology might be able to help us with other pressing problems. Climate change is already having real, tangible effects on our quality of life and the economy. Will technology help us cut carbon emissions and manage waste?

Of course, our industry revolves around the built environment. Technology that collects building data will become more and more important. Buildings are becoming smart and automated through increasingly cost-effective sensors and control points. Smart buildings that are connected can leverage AI to respond in real time to variables like equipment status, occupancy, weather and more, optimizing performance for maximum impact. While most building systems are still manually controlled, this is expected to change dramatically in coming years.

In the near future, buildings will automatically adapt to enhance occupant comfort and wellness, reduce carbon emissions and communicate with one another through building-to-building interoperability. This shift will be driven by a fundamental transformation in the construction industry.

All of this will change the need for commercial interiors products. Furniture will need to be smarter and more connected — at least until the need to work ends.