Signed, Sealed, Performed: Designing Human–AI Relationships in 2040

Will AI kill us all?

It’s one of the big questions surrounding increasingly autonomous AI. But what if it doesn’t? What if, instead, AI becomes so deeply woven into everyday life that we start relating to it in ways that feel surprisingly ordinary?

As a colleague.
As a caregiver.
As a housemate.
As a collaborator.
Perhaps even as a sort of companion.

Then a different set of questions emerges: What rules should govern these relationships?
Can an AI refuse an instruction?
Who owns its memories?
Can it have private time?
Can it change its own goals?
Can it leave?
And what happens when we can no longer tell whether an AI is simply performing a role, or actually has interests of its own?

In this hands-on speculative design workshop, we jump forward to 2040 and imagine one such human–AI relationship. This workshop draws on speculative fiction that has already imagined versions of this future. In the anime Pluto, robots are bound by law never to harm a human, yet still learn to feel. In the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL cannot simply quit its role. In After Yang, an AI's memory archive becomes the only trace of what it valued. And in Her, AI systems develop relationships and communicate with each other beyond the human world. None of these are required viewing. We'll share just enough to spark your imagination — and use these fictional worlds as starting points for designing your own human–AI relationship in 2040.

🎯 Workshop:

Working in pairs or trios, you'll design a human–AI relationship in 2040, as a sort of companions. Together, you will:

01 — Write the contract
What are the terms of the relationship?
Think about consent, freedom to refuse, memory, privacy, disclosure, self-directed time, duration and what happens if the agreement is broken.

02 — Make the relationship visible
Turn the agreement into a physical artefact: a badge, seal, card, token or other object that carries the relationship's terms.

03 — Perform the ritual
How does this relationship begin?
An induction? A handover? A ceremony? A mutual agreement?
Create a short ritual that seals the relationship — and perform it with your group.By the end of the evening, every group will have created a physical artefact and a short ritual for a relationship that doesn't exist yet.

⚡️ Why Attend?

• Think differently. Move past the AI risk headlines into the quieter, stranger question of trust, consent, and boundaries in everyday human-AI relationships.
• Make something real. Leave with a physical object and a story behind it.
• Connect. Meet fellow speculative thinkers, designers, and futurists in Amsterdam.

No previous experience with speculative design, AI or performance is required. Come alone or with someone else; you'll work in small groups. It's fun!

📝 Practical Information

• Tickets: 2 euros (to cover the cost for materials & snacks)
• Only limited spots available. Get your ticket today!
  

🌟 Organised by Mari and Nicole co-leads of Speculative Futures Amsterdam, a community exploring Speculative & Critical Design, Design Fiction, Futurism and Strategy & Foresight. Hosted at the Digital Society School.

What kind of human–AI relationship would you be willing to sign?