What should Edinburgh's festivals do about AI? My answer, in a new article published this week by Festivals Edinburgh: get ahead of it, commission work that matters, and help shape what comes next.
The report opens with my piece – find it on page 5. The Herald ran it as their lead arts story – links in bio.
#AI #FestivalsEdinburgh #DigitalArts
I started FutureEverything in 1995 with little more than naivety and optimism. Thirty-one years later I am in awe of everything this community made possible.
Every ounce of my soul went into it – the work, the people, the places, the frankly bonkers things I got to do.
The company closes. The legacy lives on.
If FutureEverything touched your work or career, share a memory – link in bio.
@futureverything@irini_mirena@itsownlight
With thanks to @lozanohemmer , @splnlss , and all FutureEverything artists, collaborators and team everywhere.
#FutureEverything #DigitalCulture #DigitalArts #AIArts #Futures Manchester
Photos Mariana Yáñez and FutureEverything.
⚡ Two days left to apply for something I've been building towards since those early FutureEverything years.
When I started FutureEverything in the mid-90s, it came from my belief that artists and cultural practitioners should have a leading role in shaping how technology develops – because of what they bring: deep knowledge of how meaning works, how context shapes interpretation, how communities create culture.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐈 𝐃𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐩𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞: 𝟑𝟎 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫, 𝟒𝐩𝐦 𝐔𝐊
£1M to shift how AI handles cultural complexity – making sure AI works for everyone, not just the handful of corporations driving development today.
🎯 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲
- Three-day workshop in Canada (Feb 2026)
- Up to four projects at ~£250K each
- Open to UK, Canada, US researchers at research institutions 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 🇬🇧 - we'll be opening up wider next time
𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥 – not with a pre-formed team or project. Bring your expertise, openness to collaborate, and ideas that push beyond current approaches.
The window to influence how AI engages with cultural meaning is narrowing.
Part of 𝐃𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐈 𝐃𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 at The Alan Turing Institute and The University of Edinburgh.
👉 Link in bio for applications and white paper.
𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞: 30 October, 4pm UK
A visit to Anstruther made excellent by a superb lunch #kedgeree #mushroombrisketburger #pickles #oliveoilcake @breadandbutter.anster
Really wonderful and congratulations @elaine_m_chalmers , you made our weekend ❤️💫
Merch @bigrocknewport keeping us warm
Taa daa! I've been cooking this up for the last year.. the Doing AI Differently white paper and funding opportunity.
This white paper presents a research vision that positions interpretive depth as essential to building AI systems capable of engaging meaningfully with cultural complexity – while recognising that no technical solution alone can resolve the challenges these systems face in diverse human contexts.
Doing AI Differently calls for a fundamental shift in AI development – one that positions the humanities and arts as integral, rather than supplemental, to technical innovation.
🔗 Doing AI Differently white paper, executive summary, policy note, and methodology report - link in bio
🔗 Funding call £1million for Canada, UK, and US collaborations - link in bio
This is more than a report – it is a call to action and a plan for change. We invite researchers, institutions and funders to join us in this crucial endeavour to unite the humanities, data science and engineering in shaping the future of AI.
The Doing AI Differently Initiative is led by the Alan Turing Institute, University of Edinburgh and the UK’s Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC-UKRI), in collaboration with international partners.
Funded by Arts & Humanities Research Council and Lloyd’s Register Foundation.
#ai #ArtificialIntelligence #arts #InterpretiveTechnologies #humanities #sustainability #whitepaper #fundingopportunity #researchfunding
Fab bike ride from Prospect Park via Brooklyn Bridge to The Little Red Lighthouse at the top of Manhattan.
So good to see artists Jonah Brucker-Cohen and Katherine Moriwaki for first time in 12 years — a decade on from our last big ride together.
Followed by retro 80s arcade games on Jonah's incredible Coin Operated hand-crafted arcade cabinets.
I'd like to think I can destroy the Death Star while I'm over, I'll settle for solidarity with my pals.
Next stop a week upstate with partners on Doing AI Differently, to see what we can do to push against the tide.
#bikeride #brooklynbridge #manhattan #newyorkcity #oldfriends #cycle #arcadegames
Yesterday at the Ursula Weekender, PJ Harvey wasn't able to make it, but I instead caught an inspired conversation with @georgerouy and @marco.capaldo about their BODYSUIT project with @sharoneyaldance . Some sharp thinking from Rouy on combining painting, choreography, costume and space in pure form. Nice to have a deep dive into body and form after swimming in data and AI for so long. Utterly brilliant – so good I was almost glad PJ didn’t show up.
Also a highlight @soniaboyceartist and @ekoweshun on creating spaces for forgotten artistic voices.
Thanks for the daytrip to @chrismugan .
*Get well soon @pjharveyofficial .
Where's the smallest club in Scotland? – I bumped into our @0tto.cox in the shop and he told me he's going to a club at the bottom of someone's garden in Newport-on-Tay. They say it's Scotland's smallest club. So I sent him this video.
Sharp moves by residents @claire_eva_otter_ and @chrismugan .
#gardenclub
#clubbing
#gardening
#bottomofthegarden
#unusualplaces
#raveculture
#tayriviera
#scotland
Tranquility at simply sublime Glen Affric with Mel and Cleo—ancient Caledonian forest, lochs still as glass, spring birdsong in the air. Pristine, remote, unforgettable.
#GlenAffric #WildScotland #CaledonianForest #LochViews #MountainAir #ScotlandWalks
I'm thrilled to announce the launch tomorrow of a hopefully game-changing initiative—Doing AI Differently—that I've been developing behind the scenes for the past 18 months.
Link in bio.
AI is evolving—and so must our approach to it. Our initiative argues that the arts and humanities must play a central role in shaping the very foundation of how AI is built—to create AI that can enhance, rather than diminish or replace, human ingenuity.
We stand at a pivotal moment, equivalent to the birth of Cognitive Science in the 1950s. There is an urgent need—and a closing window of opportunity—to shape the next generation of AI technologies with greater interpretive capabilities and that support human flourishing by fostering creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking.
The initiative, which I lead for The Alan Turing Institute, The University of Edinburgh, and the UK's Arts and Humanities Research Council - AHRC, aims to avoid the mistakes in social media, which prioritised 'thin' metrics like clicks and engagement, leading to echo chambers and the spread of misinformation.
The way AI is designed today will shape the next decade. This is our moment to do AI differently—to create AI that amplifies human potential, respects cultural diversity, and preserves our agency in an increasingly automated world.
An international workshop tomorrow at Royal Academy of Engineering in London will convene the community and chart what we hope will be a transformative path for AI's future.
#DoingAIDifferently #NewReal #InterpretiveTechnologies #HumanAIEnsembles #AlternativeArchitectures #ExperientialAI #CulturalAI #QualitativeTurn #Humanities #Arts #AIArts #AIEthics #DigitalHumanities #ArtificialIntelligence #AIforGood #AIArts #GenerativeAI #GenAI #GenerativeModels #LargeLanguageModels #LLMs #MachineLearning #DeepLearning
