AIxDESIGN
Strategy · Communication · Research · Cross-functional Leadership
AIxDesign (AIxD) is a global community of researchers, artists, designers, and creative technologists conducting applied AI research for “the rest of us”.
Since 2022, I’ve served as co-founder (”the Ops one”), and Project Lead.
→ with Nadia Piet, built AIxD’s asynchronous org OS (Notion, Slack, recurring meetings, G Suite, Butter) to help the community and its program leads design, organise and publish research programs, tools, and published works;
→ co-authored 2022–2025 project proposals and grant applications
→ Program leadership for all AIxD Programs since 2022:
2023
- <STORY+CODE> with Submarine Channel’s SubLab
- Better Images of Responsible AI, with Better Images of AI + Sound&Vision
- Relaunch AIxD website
2024
- Slow AI: In a 2023 article about Dr. Timnit Gebru, we were introduced to the concept of Slow AI. Since then, we've been researching what Slow AI could mean in practice. An on-going research stream, Slow AI reimagines what AI could be beyond Silicon Valley ideologies. Sub-topics include:
- Small AI: What could we make if scale wasn’t an objective?
- Ancestral AI: What can we learn from data-led decision making of the past?
- Esoteric AI: What can we learn from predictive technologies of the past?
- Prompt Your Person – How would you label someone you love? Prompt Your Person is a generative AI web app that challenges visitors to "accurately" generate an image of their favourite person. What do you include in that prompt? Made with The Hmm for MU Hybrid Art House, Poetics of Prompting exhibition shown during Dutch Design Week 2024.
- …and 3 confidential projects (AIxD For Hire)
2025
- Archival Images of AI II – coming soon
- Equitable(ish) Models of AI for Musicmakers – coming soon
- [ BETA ] AI-powered musicmaking tool with Mihir – coming soon
- AI Greenhouse with Netherland Film Academy – coming soon
TL;DR we communicate alot, document everything (in Notion), and experiment with AI tools that help us save brain power for things that need our brain power.
We work in the open, participatory approach to all our work, which means:
- everything is an experiment. This is all of our first time running a global community org conducting emerging applied AI research. There are alot of moving parts so we aren’t so precious about getting it “right” but instead getting it done, reflecting, and doing it better next time.
- we are publishing consistently. Working in this way has been a continuous ‘un’learning process about about what “good enough” looks like. We use Notion for our WIP docs and publish to our website and social channels once a project has closed.
AIxD is also self-funded – which means our team is perpetually underpaid. This has meant a few things:
- we are constantly re/evaluating our this asynchronous org OS (tech stack + team rituals and rhythms) so that all AIxDers (mixed team of paid/volunteer/long-term/short-term) can unleash their brilliance and get done what they need to get done;
- we are constantly re/discussing the value exchange between us (our labour) and the org. Alternative compensation looks different for everyone at different times.
Happy to go into more detail upon request.
Since joining AIxD in 2021
→ AIxD has recorded community growth of 450% across channels, doubling membership YoY (as of May 2025).
→ Raised and distributed €200,000+ towards community-led applied AI research like AI Playground, Slow AI, and AIxDESIGN Festival: On Slow AI
→ On-time and on-budget delivery of 2022-2025 Programs. Outputs include:
- Dozens of online and IRL talks and workshops (see Youtube, Lu.ma) with 1000s of attendees from 28+ countries
- 20+ AI tutorials and/or learning guides for creative professionals
- 3 white papers exploring Slow AI principles in practice
- 6 AI-powered tools
- 13+ short films exploring how different AI tools might be used during the animation / filmmaking process
It's rare to find people you sync so effortlessly with that your output and energy increase three-fold. For me, Ploi is one of those people. I worked with Ploi as a colleague on clients projects, and on a day-to-day basis for AIxDESIGN. 11/10 would recommend.
— Nadia, co-founder of AIxDESIGN, former Head of Creative Technology, DEPT