Reimagining and reclaiming AI at London Data Week

On Wednesday 8 July I helped convene a day of events on reimagining and reclaiming AI for London Data Week. Following the global launch of the AI Resist List, it feels like there’s been a real buzz around alternative narratives for AI. We’ve seen coverage in Tech Policy Press, Democracy Now and AI Weekly, while co-creator Karen Hao has discussed the List’s impact on Channel 4 News and Novara Media.

So it was great to build on that momentum through a day of workshops and panels at King’s College London. The focus was on developing ideas and plans for alternative, grassroots and community-led visions of AI, all inspired and supported by the organisations featured on the the List.

The day was hosted by We and AI, a non-profit I’ve been working with since the start of 2026. Massive shout-out to the indefatigible Tania Duarte who founded We and AI six years ago. As well as the rest of the event team: Aphie, Ayla, Bruna, Caro, Cinzia, Connie Jehu, Dylan Orchard, Harriet, Ismael Kherroubi Garcia, Lonvansh Katiyar, Marion Meyers, Mhairi Quiroz-Aitken, Ramla Anshur and Zoya. We and AI is a sprawling collective and we tend to work remotely. So it was great to meet members of the wider community in person, as well as collaborate with the academics, policy-makers, journalists and practitioners who joined the events.

How the day went

I started the day as a co-facilitator for Ismael’s session on Crafting Participatory Tech Futures. The aim of the workshop was to debate, reflect on and ultimately articulate future scenarios that are sustainable, equitable and resilient. The process of collective imagining was a challenge in itself, especially when we had to develop stories to link our diverse futures together. But it was enjoyable and highly collaborative. My group agreed that in 150 years time (2176):

• climate change will be reversed
• wealth will be redistributed
• we’ll have a new world order/ post-capitalist
• AI research + deployment will be for social benefit (not profit)

Unfortunately we couldn’t agree quite exactly on how we were going to get there! It’s an interesting exercise that highlights the importance of collective imagination (and our lack of imagination infrastructure).

In the afternoon I joined Dylan’s Zine Against the Machine workshop. This was fun, and it was delightful to focus on something non-digital and paper-based. I felt like I was back in Design Club, cutting up magazines and drawing. We sat around in small groups and chatted. I love that feeling of parallel play – where people can end up talking about deep emotions and experiences while being distracted with something apparently trivial.

The final session was the AI Resist List (UK launch). Tania and Marion did a great job of telling the story behind the List’s creation, and setting out plans for the future. I was one of around 20 speakers invited to give a lightning talk (3 minutes!) highlighting different grassroots initiatives around the world. I talked about my involvement with the No Palantir in the NHS campaign. It was a real privilege to be in a roster of speakers including critical AI luminary Timnit Gebru and feminist ethnographer, LC De Shay (who both joined remotely).

Conclusion

During the day I met a UX designer who told me they were very concerned about the growing “AI-speak” in government digital teams. In the old days the focus was on agile and listening to users and iteration. Now there seems to be an increasing belief that AI can simply solve – and do – everything. This belief in the hype and over-reliance on one solution is skewing design practice away from actual user needs. Let’s hope things change for the better. After seeing the high attendance and warm response to this day of events, I’m feeling positive.

Main image: one of many artworks on display in the lecture theatre during the AI Resist List launch – Nadia Piet & Archival Images of AI + AIxDESIGN / Limits of Classification / Licenced by CC-BY 4.0