What do we want synthetic reality to be? Synthetic media, as part of the constantly evolving field of artificial intelligence, heralds a completely different way of working with data, creating media content, communicating, working, creating and perceiving reality. Although synthetic media is most popular due to deepfakes, the real-world applications of AI-driven media synthesis extend far beyond memes, fake news, and pornography. Whether in visual, audio, or textual form, AI-generated synthetic media exemplifies real-appearing fiction and brings unprecedented creative possibilities. As we currently face a myriad of global environmental and socio-economic challenges and continually turn to technology as a means of problem solving, we might want to explore the future potential of synthetic media tools to imagine trajectories other than those paved by profit- and power-driven start-ups. But do we still have the capacity to imagine alternative future scenarios? Can synthetic media be used to imagine the unimaginable and contribute to shaping a more inclusive future? This workshop invites participants from diverse backgrounds to engage in synthetic imagination and create new futures using today's most well-known artificial intelligence models. Participants will learn about the principles of synthetic media creation, the current and future promise of AI tools, as well as their limitations, and apply this information directly to speculative brainstorming. Participants will thus take responsibility for their future into their own hands and become active players in synthetic reality! Key take-aways Learning about the principles of synthetic media creation, the current and future promise of AI tools, as well as their limitations Exploring the potential of synthetic media beyond the start-up space Connecting experts from different backgrounds in a speculative brainstorming with a potential to initiate future projects Using synthetic media to imagine the unimaginable Get hands-on experimentation with the groundbreaking CLIP+VQGAN image generation model About the Speaker Lenka Hamosova is a designer, researcher, and visual artist. In her work she is researching synthetic media and their use in audiovisual production within the doctoral study at Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague - FAMU. She is the initiator of the educational project Collective Vision of Synthetic Reality, which spreads awareness of available AI models and opens a discussion on the future use of artificial intelligence through interdisciplinary workshops. Lenka Hamosova is an alumna of Sandberg Institute / Masters Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam and Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava. She teaches at MA Future Design, Prague City University, and is a co-founder of the UROBOROS art/design festival. Learn more about Lenka on her Linkedin, Twitter, and Instagram. https://www.linkedin.com/in/lenkahamosova https://twitter.com/lenkahamosova https://www.instagram.com/lenkahamosova/ About AIxDesign AIxDesign is an independent organization and community of people exploring the intersection of AI/ML and design. For more info, please check out our website at aixdesign.co. About the link Once you sign up you'll receive a confirmation email and we'll send out a link to the call an hour shortly before the session (please check spam if you can't find it).