In our conference contribution we explore the idea of the generative ouroboros—the automated autophage—in application to foresight. Foresight is by definition a participatory activity and made by humans. In our futures exhibition we try out what happens if we make scenarios about AI with AI.

Together with the visitors to our exhibition, we want to find out how AI influences and changes foresight practice. Does AI increase the plausibility of future scenarios or decrease human expertise and participation?

Will AI render foresight practice irrelevant altogether—substituting for human expertise, imitating human intuition and making participation unnecessary? Or will AI help to improve foresight processes—through better design, more efficient organisation, or more creative future scenarios?

We invite you to visit our futures exhibition “Generative Ouroboros: A Futures Exhibition of AI-Generated Radical Alternatives of AI” taking place on 30th September, from 19:00 to 21:00 as a side event at the Futures4Europe conference and to explore not only AI generated future scenarios but to discuss together with us the role of AI in future foresight practice!

You can start by asking yourself whether this blog was written by a person or by an AI! And would you have interpreted it the same way, before asking yourself this question?

We look forward to seeing you at our AI futures exhibition and to discussing the automated autophage further with you! 

In a world facing multiple global challenges and geopolitical tensions strategic foresight helps organisations to anticipate long-term change to make better decisions in the present day.

Foresight offers a method for positive engagement beyond the focus on past or current issues, fostering creativity and providing alternatives to current paradigms. Using foresight tools can help to integrate youth perspectives into EU external action, focusing on desired futures, transition pathways and trends.

Through the Youth Action Plan in EU external action (YAP) the EU builds a partnership with young people worldwide by engaging, empowering, and connecting them through various processes and activities. The Y4F toolkit supports the implementation of the YAP, in particular the commitments to increase the voice and leadership of young people, promote their involvement in the EU external policies and actions, as well as to enhance institutional capacity and expertise of EU staff on how to engage with young people.

The Y4F toolkit fits into the first EU Strategy on Intergenerational Fairness (March 2026) developing the reflex of long-term thinking in EU policymaking, while giving greater weight to the views and concerns of young people. The EU's overarching goal is to guarantee that current decisions are made with the future in mind, ensuring a fair balance of benefits and burdens across all generations. The Strategy aligns with global efforts for a long-term approach in planning and policies, such as in the UN Declaration on Future Generations.

DG International Partnerships uses Foresight to shift our mind-set from the here-and-now (reactive) to future-in-the-making (anticipatory), in line with the European Commission’s embedding of Strategic Foresight in better policymaking.  

Youth4Foresight (Y4F) Toolkit

The Y4F toolkit is designed for experts who engage with young people as part of EU external action (such as Youth Sounding Boards at EU Delegation level, youth organisations, and any other kind of youth advisory structures at local or national level). However, the approach detailed in the toolkit can be used by anyone who wants to work with youth in the context of foresight or even just by young people alone.

We recommend that you start your journey by reading the Introduction to the Y4F Toolkit or watching the introductory webinar. You can also find inspiration in selected use cases. 

We recommend that you start your journey by reading the Introduction to the Y4F Toolkit or watching the introductory webinar. The full toolkit and webinars are universally available and can be accessed on the Capacity4Dev website. 

Our toolkit and additional materials are accessible in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.