It was a gorgeous, sunny, warm one in Amsterdam and, if you happened to be going for a run or simply take a scroll among the water in KNSM-eiland, you might have seen a group of people in front of Loods6 chatting in the sun, drawing weird shapes using chalk on the concrete or with their noses in the air staring at birds.

If you slowed down for a second and paid attention, you might have heard them discussing arcane things about esoteric AI, small models and ethical tech.

That bunch of people was the crowd of the “AIxDESIGN Festival: On Slow AI”, the very first edition of a festival created by AIxDESIGN to welcome their community in a physical space and rethink AI together, beyond mainstream tech-driven narratives, imagining nuanced technology-integrated futures.

The program of the festival included workshops, talks and pop-up activities featuring artists, researchers and guests from all over the world, an AI Film screening program in collaboration with Netherlands Film Academy, an exhibition open to the public, craft and play corners — such as a friendship bracelet-making station — and a shop with the cutest t-shirts, zines and postcards, the earnings of which will be used to fund future projects of AIxDESIGN.

Throughout this exciting mix of events, we had the chance to slow down and come together as humans, trying to navigate the interesting and often disorienting progress of AI, in a beginner-friendly environment. Part of the great job of the team was the design of the festival’s program, which accompanied the visitor and made the different facets of AI accessible using simple metaphors and irony while dissecting its complex ethics and implications.

One of the main goals was to break what the team calls “the AI hate/AI hype cycle”: the idea that AI swings between the two extremes of being a revolution that will solve all kinds of problems, and the daunting idea that it will replace humans for good. The truth is, humans are making AI and can control its development. Keeping this constantly in mind, we navigated those spaces of uncertainty together.

Beyond the spirit of fun and exploration that was so strongly present during the three days of the festival, what stood out was the intention of creating a moment of inclusivity and sharing useful, usable knowledge.

While understanding together the machine and breaking down different aspects of it, we had the chance to learn how to use AI better, and how a technology that is so strongly present in the most daily and mundane aspects of our lives, can and has to benefit humans and the planet first, definitely not the other way around. We understood, for example, that is possible for basically everyone to make their own small AI model, and we reflected on what a small switch in terminology—like calling different types of AI by their specific names, such as Generative AI, Computer Vision, or Natural Language Processing—can change how we relate to and understand these technologies.

We realised how arbitrarily this type of technology works, more similar to an aleatory bet or to the process of remixing existing material to make a collage than to a superior will capable of destroying us;

we also played with it, hacked it, find ways to overcome the glitches and have genuine fun with it, using intuition and creativity as guides.

What made the “AIxDESIGN Festival: On Slow AI” a truly special experience, wasn’t just the good programming, the art installations, or the quality of the speakers—it was all the people who joined, bringing their backgrounds and their voices into the conversation and the connections that were created.

The atmosphere of curiosity, care and collaboration, reminded me that, at its core, technology is only as meaningful as we make it, shaping it and engaging with it.

We often think of AI as a distant, abstract entity, but this weekend showed that when we come together we are able to claim this space back and use it as we want: to play, to talk, to plan, to create.

— by Chiara Vignandel