iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 02/10/2026

We closed by reflecting together. Lovely, thoughtful participants. We talked about why bacteria make electricity at all, how precious electricity feels when it comes from a jar of mud, and whether this blurs the line between nature and technology.

Wide shot of the workshop room. About a dozen people stand around long white tables with a mud bucket, gloves and jars of mud. Sunjoo Lee leans over the bucket at the far end while Kars Alfrink and others look on, smiling.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 02/10/2026

We talked about regenerative approaches to computing, building on Fieke Jansen's work. Sunjoo introduced her electric garden art practice. Then everyone made mud batteries: microbial fuel cells that harvest electrons from bacteria in soil.

Two participants lean over a black bucket of mud, one scooping with a long spoon, the other stirring. Another participant watches with arms crossed. Empty glass jars stand on the table in front.

Sunjoo Lee, wearing glasses and a conference lanyard, explains something with her hands. Kars Alfrink and a participant stand behind her, listening.

Advaita Jairam sits alone at a small table at the side of the room, drawing on a tablet. Workshop participants sit out of focus in the foreground.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 02/10/2026

On 22 September, Sunjoo Lee, Advaita Jairam and I ran "From Soil to Servers" at the Philosophy of Human-Technology Relations conference (PHTR 2026) in The Hague. Advaita captured the whole session in a drawing.

Hand-drawn visual notes in yellow, brown, green and blue, titled "From Soil to Servers". Credits: Sunjoo Lee, Kars Alfrink, Advaita Jairam (building on work with Fieke Jansen), PHTR, The Hague, 22nd Sept 2026. Left: "the AI question" answered with "more AI!"; efficiency and green data centres, but gains lead to growth. A banner asks "So what is computing for?" A diagram after Bill Reed runs from degenerate through less harm to regenerate and more good, next to an "organic data centre": a jar of mud between server racks. Centre: microbial fuel cells. Geobacter in the mud release electrons as a waste product of their metabolism, under a banner reading "fermenting electricity". Sunjoo's learnings from the electric garden: electronics and bacteria in the same rhythm; collective activities for communities; the intelligence of ecosystems. Right: potted plants with the notes "runs on its own time", "better in summer" and "wait for electricity to use". Thought bubbles: fermenting; how precious electricity is; workshop jars versus the garden's entangled practice; nature and tech blurred; the wait; the relational aspect of energy and people. A quote from David Graeber: "The ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently."

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 10/09/2026

ThingsCon launched RIOT 2026 on 21 August at Sociaal AI Lab in Rotterdam. I presented "Mud and Models: Does Making Matter for Regenerative AI Speculation?", written with Sunjoo Lee, Lena Trotereau, and Fieke Jansen. Photo: Peet Sneekes.

A man in glasses and a blue plaid shirt stands in a classroom-style space with rows of black chairs, smiling as he leafs through an open copy of the RIOT 2026 report. A green Sociaal AI Lab Rotterdam sign hangs on the wall behind him.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 17/07/2026

I recently joined a panel at Pakhuis de Zwijger on resident involvement in decisions about AI in the city, the closing event of Human Values for Smarter Cities, where I was lead researcher for TU Delft.

A seated audience in a row of chairs watches attentively in a bright industrial venue, some listening with hands on chins.

Three people on a stage at high tables with microphones. In the middle Munish Ramlal gestures while speaking, on the right Kars Alfrink in a black t-shirt listens with a smile, on the left moderator Natasja van den Berg. Screens behind them read "Continue plek voor bewonersbetrokkenheid".

On a stage lit in pink, Tessa Steenkamp hands the first copy of the handbook "Bewoners-in-the-loop" to Ger Baron. Martijn de Waal and Mike de Kreek look on, with moderator Natasja van den Berg on the left holding a microphone.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 09/06/2026

Amsterdam wanted a camera-equipped "scan bike" to spot things like illegally placed construction waste containers in public space. Unusually, the procurement tender required a year-long civic participation process, with a citizen panel shaping how the object-recognition tech would work.

The "scan bike" in public space. The signage and QR code, meant to make its function legible to passers-by, came out of the participatory design work. Photo: Michiel Landeweerd.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 04/05/2026

Talked AI infrastructure, speculation, and real utopias with students at Leiden today.

Opening slide of the lecture, titled "Designing AI Otherwise: Infrastructures and Futures," with details listing AI in Society, Leiden University, 4 May 2026, and presenter Kars Alfrink (Delft University of Technology). The background is a glitchy, pixelated artwork in blues and reds by Elise Racine for Better Images of AI.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 03/04/2026

What better place to explore regenerative community computing than at Creative Coding Utrecht, home of artist Sunjoo Lee's electric garden?

Illustrated visual map by Lena Trotereau titled "Soil to Servers: CCU Workshop," capturing themes from the workshop in hand-drawn style. A large pink crystal-like structure labeled "Electric Garden" dominates the upper left. Surrounding it are handwritten concepts including "low-tech infrastructure," "repurposing e-waste," "scarcity prompts creativity," "moving from extractive mindset," "collective action," "living in rhythm with nature," and "how to make all regenerative?" At the top, four circular icons outline the workshop flow: mud in a jar, create circuit, reflect and discuss, and present future vision. Figures throughout the drawing touch grass, use laptops, tend to plants, and gather in groups. The bottom right shows people holding a bowl of soil.

Sunjoo Lee presenting at the Soil to Servers workshop in a cozy, wood-paneled room. She stands in a purple sweater beside a large screen displaying a diagram labeled "Inside each cell," which shows the inner workings of a microbial fuel cell with labeled components including the anode, cathode, plant, and electrical wires. An easel with a sketch is visible to her left.

Close-up of a hands-on demonstration at the workshop. On a wooden table, glass jars filled with mud and soil serve as microbial fuel cells, connected by wires to a breadboard circuit and a small clock face. A red multimeter sits nearby. Sunjoo Lee's hand reaches in to adjust a component while participants look on.

Sunjoo Lee leaning over a table arranged with multiple glass jars containing soil and organic matter, each fitted with wires as part of a microbial fuel cell setup. A digital multimeter on the left displays a reading. Another workshop facilitator stands beside her. In the background, a poster with a QR code and text is partially visible.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 25/03/2026

It is always a pleasure to bring a design research perspective to a new context. Today, I presented my talk, "Designing AI for Autonomy as a Political Project," at the Dutch Data Protection Authority's AI & Algorithm Seminar.

Title slide reading "Designing AI for Autonomy as a Political Project" by Kars Alfrink, TU Delft. Presented at the AI & Algorithm Seminar 2026, Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, 25 March, ECC Leiden. The URL contestable.ai appears at the bottom. Black bold text on a white background.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 23/03/2026

Started the week with the distinct pleasure of delivering a guest lecture on ethical issues in AI for our second-year bachelor students in Aerospace Engineering.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 17/03/2026

We (Sunjoo, Fieke, Lena, and I) will conduct a second iteration of our workshop on mud batteries and computing infrastructure titled "Soil to Servers" at Creative Coding Utrecht during the Week of the Circular Economy next week. creativecodingutrecht.nl/en/calendar/...

A breadboard circuit with colorful wires and alligator clips sits on soil beside a potted plant, part of a microbial fuel cell workshop where participants generate electricity from mud to power small electronic devices.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 15/01/2026

Brief report of the "From Mud to Models" workshop on regenerative AI futures organized by Fieke Jansen, Sunjoo Lee, Lena Trotereau, and me at TH/NGS 2025.

Workshop participants gathered around a wooden table covered with glass jars filled with dark, muddy material, wires, and electronic components. Several people lean in to examine and connect microbial fuel cells, while others observe and smile. A digital multimeter and various electrodes are visible. A screen in the background shows a presentation, and workshop materials are scattered across the rustic tabletop.

Close-up of a microbial fuel cell: a glass jar filled with layered dark mud and water, topped with a black clock mechanism with red clock hands. Yellow and red wires connect the jar to a digital multimeter, which displays '0.00'. Additional clock mechanisms and electronic components are visible in the background on a wooden workshop table.

A participant with arm tattoos draws with a blue marker on a large paper template during the scenario-building phase. The paper features hand-drawn sketches, including a wave/bird illustration and handwritten notes about ‘unpredictable energy cadence’ and ‘EU Law of Bacteria.’ Surrounding the workspace are glass jars with mud batteries, a multimeter, and colored markers.

Illustrated visual summary titled 'From Mud to Models' by Lena Trotereau for ThingsCon 2025. The colorful drawing in pink, blue, and white shows workshop concepts: people collaborating around an 'Electric Garden' table with mud batteries, an optimization stopwatch, measurement tools, a harvest station with plants, and a 'Living Energy' jar with bacteria. A circular workflow illustrates four steps of the process, featuring the quote ‘Together we know more’ and themes such as teamwork, utilizing local soil, and adhering to nature's rhythm.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 09/12/2025

As always, it was a welcome morale boost to demo and march with, in this case, over 7000 fellow students, teachers, and researchers. #woinactie

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 09/12/2025

On strike today, and off to Amsterdam in a bit to join my colleagues at the demo. Stop the cuts to higher education.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 21/11/2025

Had a great time presenting on designing AI work tools that preserve worker autonomy at the Enterprise UX conference today. My slides are available on my website, as usual. contestable.ai/wp-content/u...

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 19/09/2025

I had a great time presenting at the Politics of AI symposium at Goldsmiths. Many thanks to Dan McQuillan, Fieke Jansen, Jo Lindsay Walton, and Pat Brody for inviting me and putting together such a thought-provoking program.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 12/06/2025

Key takeaway slide, by way of a TLDR.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 12/06/2025

Had a wonderful time sharing my ideas on how to approach learning in a world that includes GenAI machines, from a design perspective, at LXDCON’25. A big thank you to Niels Floor and Shapers for the invitation. You can find my slides on my website here: contestable.ai/presentations/

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 10/06/2025

Bonus: the slide I used to illustrate my brief talk during the salon.

A slide with four images: (1) the Humane AI Pin, (2) a figure from the book Thoughtful Interaction Design, (3) a Safecast Radnote sensor, (4) Tech Workers Coalition marching in San Francisco.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 10/06/2025

As always, it was a great pleasure to present my contribution to the RIOT 2025 publication, the essay "Embodied AI and Collective Power: Designing Democratic Generative Things" at the ThingsCon Salon last Friday.

Kars Alfrink presenting at the ThingsCon Salon on June 6, 2025, in Rotterdam.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 24/04/2025

Finished the march by making lots of noise in the center of Delft. Downright therapeutic. Stop the cuts, people. Just stop all of them. #woinactie

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 24/04/2025

TU Delft now marching into the city center. Stop the cuts. #woinactie

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 24/04/2025

Proper turnout at TU Delft to strike against the cuts. #woinactie

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 24/04/2025

Hey ho, off to strike we go. Today it’s our turn at TU Delft to oppose the cuts to higher education. Hope to see many of my colleagues there. #woinactie

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 10/04/2025

The future of work? I think I know where that’s heading. (My meme craft is at dad joke levels. Apologies.)

A still from the Flintstones cartoon. Fred Flintstone operates a dinosaur in a quarry as if it’s heavy machinery. “PMC” is placed next to Fred Flintstone. The dinosaur is labeled “LLM”. At the bottom it says “the future of work”.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 02/04/2025

Last Friday, I had the pleasure of delivering a half-day lecture on designing responsible AI for TU Delft Industrial Design Engineering master students.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 05/03/2025

Is that who I think it is? :troll:

Portrait of horror fiction writer, Howard P. Lovecraft, 1915.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 20/02/2025

Had a lovely time presenting my work on contestable AI at data ethics consultancy The Green Land yesterday. The slides, as usual, are up on my website. It includes a final section with new material I am developing on design and the politics of AI infrastructure. contestable.ai/presentations/

A slide from a presentation with the text "Contestability in the age of a global AI arms race—"

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 16/01/2025

Ideas I am playing around with for a new project. Realist political philosophy, imagination, design, and AI infrastructure. This might get messy.

Covers of four books: Philosophy and Real Politics (Geuss), Red Planets (Bould & Mieville), The Stack (Bratton), and It's Time to Imagine Harder (Bleecker).

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 16/01/2025

The kind of book that seems precision engineered for me to click “buy” on.

The cover of the book Red Planets, edited by Mark Bould and China Mieville.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 08/10/2024

Three books that together nicely capture what Sara Colombo and I are teaching in our TU Delft industrial design engineering master elective, "Designing Responsible AI."

Three books: The Manual of Design Fiction (Bleecker et al., 2022), Value Sensitive Design (Friedman & Hendry, 2019), and Responsible Artificial Intelligence (Dignum, 2019).

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 06/09/2024

Had a blast running my contestability workshop at the ThingsCon Salon yesterday. Lovely participants, stimulating discussions, and interesting new design ideas. All good stuff.

A table littered with pens, papers, infographic posters, chargers, etc. People are drawing design ideas for contestable public AI systems on big sheets of paper.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 29/08/2024

Looking forward to running my contestability loops workshop next week as part of this ThingsCon Salon. thingscon.org/events/upcom...

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 20/06/2024

I just wanted to highlight the infographic made by Leon de Korte that visually explains several mechanisms that can be added to public AI systems to make them more contestable.

Contestability Loops for Public AI infographic.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 13/05/2024

It exists! Fantastic job on the printing by De Kijm and the artwork by Joost Stokhof. Holding a physical representation of five years of work in my hands is quite a thing.

Front cover of PhD thesis "Contestable Artificial Intelligence."

Interior of PhD thesis "Contestable Artificial Intelligence."

Back cover of PhD thesis "Contestable Artificial Intelligence."

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 04/04/2024

Sneak preview of art that will adorn my thesis, by Joost Stokhof.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 12/03/2024

Had to just get a hard copy of this one. Worth it for the cover alone.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 27/02/2024

These are probably my top three favorite books on democratizing technology, platforms, and AI from a left-leaning perspective.

Covers of three books: Platform Socialism (Muldoon, 2022), Automation and the Future of Work (Benanav, 2020), and Inhuman Power (Kjøsen & Steinhoff, 2019).

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 26/02/2024

Last week, I had the pleasure of presenting my research at the Amsterdam UX Meetup. The slides are now up on my website, slightly redacted, because some of the things I showed still need to be published. contestable.ai/presentations/

Opening slide of presentation "Contestable AI: Designing for Human Autonomy."

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 08/02/2024

Latest addition to the bookshelf. A useful reference and resource for my teaching, even though it contains way more math than my puny brain can handle. (I am not a member of the STEM audience this was written for, even though a technical university employs me. Don't tell anyone.)

The Little Book of Deep Learning by François Fleuret.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 22/01/2024

How long before we find fake off buttons in our fully automated surroundings?

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 11/01/2024

Useful piece that pulls examples from many areas to underscore the point that “actually existing” AI in the public sector in its current form is already unsafe. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 09/01/2024

Shoutout to those who debated tables versus CSS back in the day.

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Kars Alfrink @kars.leapfrog.nl · 27/11/2023

Currently reading three books in an attempt to connect tech development, democratic politics, and design.

The covers of three books: Making Design Theory, Building Power to Change the World, and Operations Anti-Patterns, DevOps Solutions.

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