10:00am-11:30am on Sunday 22 March
Times shown are in GMT (UTC +0) up to the 26th March. For events on or after 27th March times are in BST (UTC +1).
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Sidgwick Avenue, CB3 9DA
This session invites us to imagine AI and its futures otherwise, using Islamic/Muslim-inspired speculative fiction. Through these stories, We’ll experiment with concepts that bend technology toward care, justice, and different possibilities. In an era where developments in artificial intelligence are proceeding at breakneck speed under a “move fast and break things” mindset, this event turns to storytelling as a different kind of technology.
In the first half Dr Yasmin Ismail, will introduce excerpts from Islamic/Muslim-inspired speculative fiction that reimagines technological futures and asks not just “What is AI doing to us?” but “What might be instead?”.
This will be followed by a sharing from writer and scholar Dr Reham Hosny who will introduce al-Barrah, her pioneering Arabic augmented reality novel that uses technology as a tool of resistance. Through short readings, a demo and imaginative exercises, we will experiment with how to build more caring, just, and imaginative futures with AI than the ones currently on offer.
