Week 8 • Generative Worlds

Project 2: The Year 2045 — AI-Entangled Worlds (20 %)

Due: Oct 27

Objective

In groups of 3–4, you will collaboratively design, research, and present a richly imagined world set in the year 2045. Your speculative world should explore how AI has become deeply entangled with science, health, government, education, culture, and everyday life—not as separate “themes,” but as an interconnected system of influences.

The goal is to imagine a plausible future, grounded in current research and trends. Avoid extreme utopias or dystopias. Instead, focus on realistic transformations and tensions: What might daily life look like if AI accelerated biotechnology, health or energy breakthroughs reshape what it means to be human? For instance, what are the cultural and social consequences of a breakthrough that makes energy cheap and abundant, or that dramatically extends human lifespans?

Drawing on cyborg, transhuman, and posthuman frameworks for understanding human–machine entanglement, your team will create a multimodal documentation website—a “world bible” that blends research, narrative, and creative media. Imagine your site as a documentary or museum exhibition about this future world. It should show evidence of deep research, imaginative thinking, and inventive use of generative AI.

Note: This project will lead directly into Project 3, where each student will create an individual multimodal work (slideshow or video) set within this shared world.

Collaborative Process

1. Form a group (3–4 people) and discuss your vision of the world and a single technological breakthrough (e.g., clean fusion energy, a cancer cure, universal basic income, AGI assistants).
2. Brainstorm and imagine the consequences of this breakthrough—social, ecological, ethical, economic. Then write a 1-paragraph world summary to guide your collaboration.
3. In class, each group member chooses two domains from the list below to research and develop in detail. Using the starter description of the world, start a chat that you can probe the AI with questions and what-ifs. Set a context and role for the Chat. The end result should be an output text describing in detail yoir domains.
4. Consult real sources—white papers, policy reports, scientific research, or journalism—to ground your speculation, but don't discount your own imagination.
5. Have an AI model integrate the group’s texts of chat summaries into a single world description. Review, edit, and iterate together.
6. For next week, each student will create AI-generated images that will supplement the text of their two domains. Decide with the group on image style parameters.
7. Next class, you will build a group website combining all text, images, and links.

Domains of Exploration

1. Environment & Geography

• What does Earth look like in 2045? Which places are thriving, and which are struggling?
• How have climate change and new technologies affected cities, farming, oceans, and wildlife?
• Are there new kinds of homes or cities—floating, underground, or off-planet? How do people connect with nature and nonhuman intelligences (animals, machines)?

2. Technology & Infrastructure

• What everyday technologies shape people’s lives (AI helpers, robots, biotech, clean energy)?
• How do people work with machines? Are they teammates, bosses, or invisible systems in the background?
• How is energy made and shared? Is it free and renewable, or controlled by big companies?

3. Economy & Work

• What kinds of jobs or creative work exist in 2045?
• Has automation replaced most work, or made space for new types of meaning and innovation?
• How do people earn and trade—money, credits, reputation, or something else?

4. Education & Learning

• What does learning look like in 2045? Are schools still physical spaces or more like global networks?
• How do students learn—with AI tutors, simulations, games, or real-world apprenticeships?
• What skills and values matter most in this world—creativity, empathy, coding, critical thinking?
• Who controls education—governments, communities, AIs, or individuals?

5. Society & Governance

• How are people organized—nations, eco-cities, online communities, or global cooperatives?
• How are decisions made and justice maintained? Is AI involved in keeping things fair?
• How do citizens take part—voting, consensus rituals, social media, or AI-led debates?

6. Culture, Media & Art

• What kinds of art and media are popular in 2045? How do people express themselves?
• Is AI a creative partner, a tool, or a full-on artist?
• What new styles, languages, and hybrid art forms have appeared? Are there cultural revivals or rebellions?

7. Body, Mind & Identity

• How have biotechnology and neural tech changed what it means to be human?
• How do people think about identity, beauty, and gender? Are bodies customizable?
• What new psychological or spiritual challenges come with longer lives or digital minds?

8. Everyday Life

• Describe a normal day for an average person. What do they see, eat, and do?
• What do friendship, love, and family look like?
• How do people relax, find meaning, and stay connected in an always-on world?

9. Key Tensions & Themes

• What gives people hope in this world? What worries or divides them?
• What big moral or philosophical questions shape daily life?
• Where do resistance and rebellion show up? Who has power—and who challenges it?

Deliverables

• Speculative Scenario Narrative (2500–5000 words total): A collectively written overview describing your world’s origins, tensions, and transformations. Address how AI intersects across multiple domains and shapes daily life.The groups desides style and approach: documentary, fictional, journalistic or museum-exhibition.
• AI-Generated Media Assets: 10–20 visuals (concept art, environments, artifacts) with captions and alt text. Make room for audio or video inserts later (ads, “news” clips, micro-scenes).
• Group Website: A functional HTML/CSS/JS site with coherent design and navigation, integrating all narrative and media content. Group decides of presentaion and tone.
• Process Documentation: an About HTML page with shared chat urls, citations, research sources.
• Group Reflection (300–400 words):Also for the About page, a co-written reflection on creativity, research, AI tool use, collaboration, and what your world expresses about hopes and fears of AI futures.

Evaluation Criteria

• World depth & originality: How fully realized, interconnected, and imaginative is your 2045 scenario?
• Integration of research & theory: Evidence of real-world research and critical frameworks.
• Quality & coherence of AI media: Alignment of visuals/audio with your world’s tone and logic.
• Website design & functionality: Aesthetic cohesion and technical reliability.
• Transparency of process: Clear documentation of AI use, citations, and collaboration.
• Collaboration & reflection: Evidence of meaningful teamwork and critical engagement.