Prototyping Futures: The Open Governance of AI
AI is forcing a rewrite of the social contract, reshaping relationships between creatives and training data, between displaced workers and automation, and between local communities and datacenters.
In this climate, Mechanist City is an experiment in the governance of emerging technology. The platform encourages users to go beyond being mere consumers of an AI product, and instead take active part in crafting, voting, and implementing practices for navigating its challenges. Should AI companies redistribute profits to the creatives on whose works their AI has been trained? How about to the workers whose work they have automated? Or to the local communities impacted by their datacenters? You tell us.
In this workshop, you'll get to address a challenge posed by AI that you personally care about, by drafting a policy. Next, you'll get to use your favorite tools to prototype what it would look like, in practice, to see this policy being applied. For instance, a "prohibition on sponsored thought" might mean being shown a warning sign when the AI appears to intentionally overstate a marketed product. Finally, you'll get to demonstrate and make the case for your policy, before all workshop attendees cast their votes, with winners taking home some Mechanist City merch.
Learn more about OmniOpenCon here.
