​What if we had more say in the AI future taking shape around us, and could imagine one we actually want?

​AI is changing the world around us: in schools, in public services, in our economies, in the infrastructure underneath our cities.

​We hear about how to brace for it. Less about what we might actually want to grow, or how to work that out with people we don't fully agree with, or don't fully trust.

​So for one late afternoon in Lisbon, we'll step into a story.

​A city, which could be Lisbon or yours, has a decision to make about AI. There's money on the table and a clock running. Everyone in the room will hold a role: a teacher, a company representative, a neighbour, someone with no formal power at all. Each wants something. Each knows something the others don't.

​Then we'll see what gets traded, and what becomes possible that nobody expected.

​It's not a workshop about AI, and you don't need to be an expert.

​Think of it as a playful rehearsal for a decision you might want to have a say in.

​What would you invest in?
What would you refuse?
Who should own the infrastructure?
Who should benefit?
And who gets to decide?

​Who it's for

​Anyone curious or concerned about where AI is taking us, with or without a professional reason. Civic educators, librarians, teachers, youth workers, researchers, activists and public servants are all welcome, and so are neighbours with a feeling about it.

​You'll leave with

• ​a felt sense of the stakes and possibilities

• ​one small experiment to try back home

• ​the protocol itself, free to adapt and host with your own network

​Some details

​📍 Garden of the Gulbenkian Foundation
🗣 English
👥 Small group. Places are limited to 20. Please register only if you can come, and cancel if something comes up so someone else can take your place.
💶 Free

​With a guest

​Natalia Domagala is an AI ethics and transparency expert. She led the development of one of the first national standards for algorithmic transparency while at the UK government, and now advises public bodies on responsible AI.

​An open-source protocol

​This experience is based on an open-source protocol designed to be adapted and hosted by others. If you'd like to run your own rehearsal, get in touch.

​A Collective Futures experiment hosted by Alexandra Stef

​alexandra@collectivefutures.eu