Playing Future Narratives

Futuring Together

By experimenting with the use of artificial intelligence and collaborative storytelling in public engagement with sustainability challenges, the Futuring Together group, through an interactive installation "Playing Future Narratives" at Artistic Research Week 2024 (22nd - 27th October 2024) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, explored how AI-enhanced collaborative narrative creation augmented with a visual essay could facilitate understanding of energy transition futures in Trondheim, Norway. The installation utilized ScenSyn, a multiplayer interactive storytelling system combining AI-assisted narrative generation with human creativity, together with a visual essay highlighting the complexities and contradictions inherent in the energy transition. The project provided an opportunity to test how AI-enhanced collaborative storytelling might offer unique opportunities for exploring complex societal transitions and raised important questions about the role of artificial intelligence in creative processes and public discourse.

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Playing Future Narratives

An AI-driven Storytelling Experience

During Artistic Research Week 2024 at NTNU, the Futuring Together research group hosted an interactive installation featuring a collaborative storytelling game. Participants were invited to engage in short writing sessions in collaboration with AI, complemented by a visual essay displayed as posters.

The experience was set in a future version of Trondheim, focusing on energy transition scenarios and their associated challenges and contradictions.The installation explored questions about future energy consumption management, potential obstacles in finding solutions, and the possibility that today's solutions might become tomorrow's challenges.

The game involved multiple players at individual screens, taking turns to contribute to the narrative in response to AI prompts. The AI system also contributed with storylines, creating a hybrid human-AI storytelling experience. Sessions concluded either when time expired or when participants felt their narrative was complete.

The AI engine was crafted with imputs from the research group consisting of 4 different scenarions and descriptions of the characters the stories could evolve from.

The project examined participant interactions with AI-based storytelling, analyzed the types of narratives created, and studied perceptions of Trondheim's future within the context of energy transition dynamics. As a work-in-progress research project, both technically and in terms of format and criticality, participant feedback was collected to aid in the installation's development and improvement.

Through collective imagination of various scenarios, participants contributed to envisioning potential future worlds.

The installation was created by Futuring Together, a group of PhD candidates at NTNU including Ayodele Arigbabu, Kristian Byskov, Ysabel Muñoz and Margarita Torrijos, whose work focuses on futuring and narratives across various dimensions.

The installation was supported with funding from the NTNU Artistic Research Week and was also funded as a PHKUNST Community initiative 2024.

To cite this exposition, see here.

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Futuring Together - Playing Future Narratives - 2025

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