Sub-shift
“LONGEVITY MARKETS”
A future body becomes something to purchase—and a new way to describe yourself.
A person has an age. Increasingly, they can also encounter a number that claims to say how well they are ageing. That second number invites an unusually powerful purchase: evidence that the future is still open to negotiation.
“LONGEVITY MARKETS” explores what happens when ageing well becomes a consumer identity as well as a practical wish. The appeal can include reassurance, control and distinction: the feeling of doing something knowledgeable now for a self who will exist much later.
AI could make that identity more personal by interpreting measurements, explaining patterns and assembling recommendations around intimate details. Our near-term hypothesis concerns the authority those interpretations may acquire. It does not assume that more personalized advice extends a life.
A score people can buy into
A biological-age estimate can compress a complicated ambition into something easy to follow. It may encourage a person, worry them or become a status marker. Some customers may welcome that identity; others will want useful information without turning ageing into a competition.
There is a substantial distinction between moving a measure and gaining healthy years. A 2025 perspective by Dmitrii Kriukov and colleagues questions the practical value of ageing clocks without clear definitions, uncertainty and external validation. Their critique leaves room for useful biomarkers while asking what an estimate actually adds to meaningful outcomes. [75]
For a business, the implications are quite concrete. Explain what a measurement can support, and provide outcome evidence for the benefits you charge customers to pursue. The more personal the interpretation feels, the more important that distinction becomes; knowing someone’s habits can make an answer persuasive without making its recommendation sound.
Expand the ambition beyond a younger number
There is room for a richer offer around ageing well. A customer may want to keep traveling independently, welcome friends at home, continue a valued activity or feel comfortable making plans. Homes, mobility, leisure and services can contribute to those ambitions without promising biological reversal.
The WHO’s 2020 healthy-ageing framework puts functional ability in the context of a person’s capacities and surroundings. [72] For you, that suggests looking beyond what the customer can change about themselves. Which parts of your offer become unnecessarily difficult as someone’s life changes? What could you redesign so a valued activity remains possible?
Some consumers will continue to seek intensive measurement. Others will dislike the suggestion that ageing is a performance they can fail. Serve the ambition without assuming everyone wants the same identity attached to it.
Over the next few years, watch whether people return for a more flattering number, credible practical help or some combination of the two. Those are different reasons to buy. A business that understands the distinction can build a longer relationship than one that relies on the anxiety of falling behind.
THE SOURCE NOTESFollow the thinking 2 sources · what they show and where their limits lie
Sources and further reading
These sources inform the article. A product announcement describes an offer, not how widely people use it. Arguments and imagined futures are kept separate from observed results.
Critical perspective on validity and usefulness of clocks; does not establish that all biomarkers lack utility.
Normative framework; not evidence that a particular AI product improves health.
About this research edition
This article draws on selected sources and our interpretation of their implications for consumers. The wider collection contains 50 articles and original illustrations. We have not read everything by everyone on the reading list, calculated the probability of each future or established worldwide adoption. The collection is not exhaustive.
The illustrations are AI-generated, with a visual approach informed by TrendWatching’s 2024 and 2025 reports. They depict ideas rather than observed events. If an article’s central idea changes, its image needs another look. Small edits need not mean a new illustration; automatic replacement is not active.
Each innovation has a source, a review date and an explanation of its relevance and limits. Some are early signs of the change; others offer a useful comparison. None proves the forecast. Monthly monitoring and automatic selection of new examples are not running.