Reimagining the (inter)faces of AI
How should AI look, sound, and feel? What are your aesthetics of AI? Beyond the now-familiar chat boxes and sleek gradients lies a vast universe of unexplored possibilities for human-AI interaction. This hands-on workshop invites you to question and critique the interfaces shaping our relationship with artificial intelligence. Then build something about it: design, prototype, and hack together new possibilities.
What to Expect
Following an opening presentation, you'll work in small groups (2-3 people) to explore whatever aspect of AI interface design most interests you. This is a choose-your-own-adventure event – you decide what to explore! Want to prototype for a specific domain or audience? Design a general-purpose model with a radically different interface? Hack together a proof-of-concept? It's up to you.
To inspire and guide your exploration, the room will feature curated "relay stations" – themed areas offering provocations, resources, and creative constraints. Stations will include both conceptual and design-focused explorations (What can science fiction teach us? How do rhetorical styles shape conversational AI? What inspiration can we draw from folklore?) and technical, hands-on resources (prompt engineering playgrounds, UI component libraries, hacking and prototyping tools).
Mix and match stations as you like. Follow your curiosity, then share your discoveries, prototypes, or concepts with the group in our closing presentations (4-5pm).
Who Should Come
This workshop welcomes PyLadies members and your designer friends! Cross-functional collaboration makes for the most interesting outcomes. Whether you code, design, or simply care about how technology shapes our world – you belong here.
Schedule
10:00-11:00 AM: Welcome & opening presentation
11:00 AM-4:00 PM: Collaborative exploration time (with break)
4:00-5:00 PM: Group presentations
Prep for the event
Watch Laura's talk "The Aesthetics of AI: from cyberpunk to fascism"
Optional extras:
Watch "The (ancient) art of conversation - styling beyond the GUI" on rhetoric and conversational interfaces:
Watch some sci-fi! Bring aesthetic or style references that interest you and you want to discuss
Background
This workshop builds on Laura Summers' April 2025 talk "The Aesthetics of AI: from cyberpunk to fascism," which explored how aesthetic choices in AI reveal deeper assumptions about technology's role in society. Now it's your turn to imagine alternatives.
Registration
Spots are limited – register fast!
Please register via Luma (not Meetup). Registration will be confirmed.
Speaker: Laura Summers
Laura is a very technical designer™️, working at Pydantic as Lead Design Engineer. Her side projects include Sweet Summer Child Score (summerchild.dev) and Ethics Litmus Tests (ethical-litmus.site). Laura is passionate about feminism, digital rights and designing for privacy. She speaks, writes and runs workshops at the intersection of design and technology.
Sponsored by Python Software Verband with the support of PyLadies Berlin and School of Machines