Your Future Guide

What do you see when you imagine the year 2050? What will the world look like? Where might we live? How will we feed ourselves? How do we care for a future that we can’t even imagine? Lots of questions, but who can answer them? Your Future Guide, a first-of-its-kind digital museum interactive combining technology with Smithsonian storytelling, introduced over 8,000 people to the year 2050 from June through September 2022.

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FAQ

What is Your Future Guide?

Available until September 30, 2022, Your Future Guide offered an entirely new way for you to experience a museum exhibition. This free, first-of-its-kind digital experience was the Arts + Industries Building’s gift to the public to celebrate the closing of the groundbreaking FUTURES exhibition.

How can I experience Your Future Guide?

Available until September 30, 2022, visit yourfutureguide.si.edu via mobile or desktop and choose to begin the experience with the Arts + Industries Building’s official guide of 2050. After answering a BuzzFeed style quiz to learn what types of future you may be interested in, Your Future Guide will take you on a-personalized tour of prototypes, inventions, and ideas from the Arts + Industries Building’s FUTURES exhibition.

How does Your Future Guide work?

Your Future Guide works by combining artificial intelligence, machine learning, and Smithsonian storytelling to take you on a tour of 2050 through the ideas, objects, and inventions from the Arts + Industries Building’s FUTURES exhibition.

Why was Your Future Guide created?

Your Future Guide was created in response to research that shows that people are more likely to care about a future they can see themselves in. Your Future Guide offers you the opportunity anytime, anywhere to explore the prototypes, inventions, and ideas from the Arts + Industries Building’s FUTURES exhibition, and make a commitment to shape your future into one that you want.

Who brought Your Future Guide to life?

To create Your Future Guide, the Smithsonian’s Arts + Industries Building team worked with award-winning advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners for creative development and leading creative production studio Unicorns & Unicorns. Multiple teams of other collaborators, including software developer Resemble AI and non-profit think tank Institute for the Future, were involved in creating and assessing Your Future Guide’s ideas and expressions. The result is an experience that revolutionizes how you can interact with a museum exhibition.

What is the FUTURES exhibition at the Smithsonian Arts + Industries Building?

FUTURES is the first building-wide exploration of the future on the National Mall, spanning 32,000 square feet inside the Smithsonian’s Arts + Industries Building. On view until July 6, 2022, FUTURES is your guide to a vast array of interactives, artworks, technologies, and ideas that are glimpses into humanity’s next chapter.

Where can I find out more information about the objects presented in Your Future Guide?

All of the objects presented in Your Future Guide are from the Smithsonian’s Arts + Industries Building FUTURES exhibition.You can find out more information about the exhibition on the Smithsonian Arts + Industries website and use the search bar to locate specific information about the ideas, inventions, and prototypes shown in the Your Future Guide experience.

How long is the Your Future Guide experience?

The full personalized The Your Future Guide experience can take approximately 20 minutes to explore your curated selection of FUTURES objects from 2050.

How long is Your Future Guide available?

Your Future Guide will be live until September 30, 2022 when it will be archived on the Smithsonian’s Ats + Industries website. The FUTURES exhibition at the Smithsonian’s Arts + Industries Building closed on July 6, 2022.