Dear colleagues, I am sharing an invitation to an upcoming workshop in Amsterdam that I am organizing with Inte Gloerich (as part of Slow AI Material Playgrounds). Feel free to share the workshop invitation with other folks who might be interested, and, if some of you are in Amsterdam on July 6th, maybe see you there? ๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ? ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ: July 6th, 2026 ๐ง๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ: 13:00 - 16.00h ๐ฃ๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ: The Hmm, NDSM-plein 125 (NDSM Wharf), Amsterdam ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ด๐ถ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐: https://tinyurl.com/4tdmnrjj In this workshop, we map out the material and relational side of chatbots. Through analog meme-making, we will collectively explore, map, and challenge the assumptions embedded in conversation-based AI systems like health bots, assistants like Copilot, Meta AI, and many others we encounter daily. We will then co-create (counter)imaginaries of chatbots, with two lines of inquiry to guide us: Locality/Materiality: Where do chatbots โliveโ? We define and explore the infrastructures, both physical and imaginary, that sustain chatbotsโ seeming intangibility and invisibility. We will map out how different โlocalitiesโ of chatbots relate to the material processes behind them โ such as computing and data flows โ and how our intuitive understandings map onto them. Relationality: How do users define a chatbotโs role and agency? We explore how we, as users, relate to chatbots through what we share, feel, and expect when we engage with them. We will map out how different relational metaphors, expectations, and emotional exchanges frame these interactions, often granting chatbots a form of agency. We will conclude by weaving these perspectives together: Does the โwhereโ and โwhoโ change the โwhatโ of a human-chatbot conversation? How does (the way we imagine) a chatbotโs materiality shape its role in our lives? And, how can we reshape the way we relate to and understand chatbots to align with the critical counterimaginaries that might emerge during the session? ----- Space is limited, so please register before July 4th to secure your spot. ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ด๐ถ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc_qVTwQnmDtskk9Ih1SXam5ks8o5Pc1_Ue... ----- In collaboration with HvA, Rietveld Academie, and ARIAS Amsterdam and generously funded by the Centre of Expertise Creative Innovation, Slow AI aims to contribute to a more equitable and sustainable technological landscape. Slow AI is a research project that aims to foster a critical, ethical, and sustainable relationship with AI by reimagining how we engage with these technologies in our societies, helping us speculate alternative presents and futures with AI technologies. (NWA.1418.24.036) ----- Best, Natalia ----- Natalia Stanusch Researcher, AI Forensics<https://www.aiforensics.org> PhD Candidate, University of Amsterdam ASCA | Media Studies Recent publications: Stanusch, N., & Rogers, R. (2026). How AI is imagined by industry during the Sam Altman controversy. New Media & Society. 10.1177/14614448261419109<https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448261419109> Stanusch, N., Degeling, M., รetin, R. B., Bรถsch, M., Romano, S. (2025). Prompt, Upload, Repeat: How Agentic Al Accounts Flood TikTok with Harmful Content. AI Forensics. https://www.aiforensics.org/work/agentic-ai-accounts. Stanusch, N. (2025). #TargetedAds, or memeing dataveillance on TikTok: How users comply, oppose, and imagine datafication practices. Big Data & Society, 12(4). 10.1177/20539517251386041<https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517251386041>.