The Futures Triangle and the Intent Map: Practical Tools for Thriving with AI

Feb 24, 2026

They explore two practical foresight tools for making intentional choices about AI in teaching. They frame the future with provocative 2035 headlines to surface tensions and tradeoffs. They discuss values-driven decision making, guardrails, and meaningful (often qualitative) metrics. They also reflect on presentation craft, learning from failure, and keeping agency amid fast change.

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ADVICE

Stop Debating AI In Education And Act

Do stop debating whether AI belongs in education and start designing how educators can thrive with it.
Sean Leahy argues the debate ended by Nov 30, 2022, and focus should shift to agency, clarity, and purpose for instructors.

INSIGHT

Ditch Death By Sticky Notes But Keep Simple Sketches

Sticky note exercises are overused and often lead to forgotten outputs, but simple pen-and-paper tools still work.
Sean Leahy criticizes 'death by sticky notes' while encouraging low-friction sketches like coasters or scrap paper.

INSIGHT

Futures Triangle Reveals Hidden Tensions

The Futures Triangle maps three dynamics shaping change: pull (desired futures), push (present pressures), and weight (historical constraints).
Sean Leahy presents the triangle as a way for educators to surface hidden tensions around AI and teaching.

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What does it actually look like to thrive — not just survive — in an era of rapid AI integration? In this episode, Sean and Andrew go behind the scenes on their sold out workshop at ASU's 2026 FOLC Fest, designed for higher education educators navigating the messy, uncertain terrain of AI in teaching and learning. Rather than debating whether AI belongs in the classroom (a conversation they argue ended in November 2022), they focus on something more interesting: how do educators maintain agency, clarity, and purpose when the ground keeps shifting beneath them? The episode walks through two powerful but accessible thinking tools — the Futures Triangle, a foresight method developed by (the amazing) Sohail Inayatullah that maps the competing forces of pull, push, and weight shaping any change landscape, and the Intent Map, a values-driven framework from Jeffery Abbott and Andrew Maynard's book *AI and the Art of Being Human* that helps individuals articulate what matters most before momentum makes the decision for them. Anchored by two provocative 2035 headlines — one where AI tutors render faculty roles obsolete, and another where human-AI partnership produces the most critically thinking generation in history — the conversation becomes an invitation to stop reacting and start choosing. Along the way, Sean and Andrew explore the art of presenting, the beauty of failure, why sticky notes have overstayed their welcome in workshop culture, and why the most important metrics in education might be the ones you can't put a number on. This isn't an episode about mastering AI tools. It's about staying true to what matters to you.

ASU FOLC Fest Website and information [Web]

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Modem Futura is a production of the Future of Being Human initiative at Arizona State University. Be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. To learn more about the Future of Being Human initiative and all of our other projects visit - https://futureofbeinghuman.asu.edu

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: @ModemFutura

Host Bios:

Sean M. Leahy, PhD - ASU Bio
Sean is an internationally recognized technologist, futurist, and educator innovating humanistic approaches to emerging technology through a Futures Studies approach. He is the Executive Director for the Future of Being Human Initiative and Research Scientist for the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and Senior Global Futures Scholar with the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University.

Andrew Maynard, PhD - ASU Bio
Andrew is a scientist, author, thought leader, and Professor of Advanced Technology Transitions in the ASU School for the Future of Innovation in Society. He is the founder of the ASU Future of Being Human initiative, Director of the ASU Risk Innovation Nexus, and was previously Associate Dean in the ASU College of Global Futures.

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