About Tracey
Tracey Follows is a globally recognized futurist, named in the Global Gurus Top 30 Futurists for 2024 and listed in the Top 50 Female Futurists in Forbes. She is the founder and CEO of Futuremade, a strategic foresight consultancy now 10 years old, working with brands like Virgin, Amazon and Google to navigate the mega trends shaping tomorrow.
A sought-after keynote speaker, Tracey has engaged audiences at the United Nations, FT’s Global Boardroom, Cannes Lions, and Fortune’s Brainstorm AI as she advises businesses and policymakers on the global trends transforming society and technology.
Her pioneering book The Future of You: Can Your Identity Survive 21st Century Technology? explores how emerging technologies are reshaping personal identity. Its themes are expanded in her award-winning podcast, which scooped Best Technology Show at the Independent Podcast Awards 2023.
She is a Visiting Professor in Digital Futures & Identity at The University of Staffordshire and a guest lecturer at London Business School. She is an associate fellow of the World Academy of Art & Science, a member of The Association of Professional Futurists, on the advisory of Lifeboat and writes a regular column on AI in Forbes.
Tracey is a trusted commentator for media outlets like the BBC, Times, and FT as her work connects technological foresight with societal impact, helping organisations navigate uncertainty and create new possibilities.
The Talk
The agentic self: human identity in the age of AI
In The Agentic Self: Human Identity in The Age of AI, Tracey Follows—drawing on insights from her pioneering book The Future of You and her award-winning podcast of the same name—demolishes the illusion of a singular, authentic self and unveils a world where we exist as layered database selves, living in profilicity. She reframes identity as a co-agentive romance—with AI companions that co-craft our ideas, co-narrate our stories, and co-promote our brands. As these agents multiply and even threaten our autonomy, Follows shows how to turn them into allies—amplifying our intuition, safeguarding our humanity, and orchestrating our many selves with strategy and soul. This is your human-centric blueprint for teaming with AI so that, amid a frenzy of digital fragments, you remain the author of your own future.