ARTIFACT Futures

We support ideas that matter beyond the moment.

[ARTIFACT Futures @ARTIFACTfutures]

An Experimental Collaboration: Koa Pham x https://t.co/m1MpQwPzig x Everlasting AI

What happens when a character created through collective imagination is given the chance to respond?

At The Future of Expression, artist Koa Pham collaborates with https://t.co/m1MpQwPzig and Everlasting AI, two Builder Projects supported by ARTIFACT Futures, on an experimental installation centered on Kevin Nguyen – a fictional character emerging from an internet meme that has circulated widely within Asian diasporic communities since the late 2010s.

Representing a stereotype of Vietnamese-American masculinity, Kevin has been collectively constructed and reproduced through online images, anecdotes, and cultural references. By giving this familiar yet fictional figure new forms of presence and expression, the project explores how collective imagination shapes identity, and how technology might allow a character defined by others to respond.

The installation brings together two interconnected works. In Chat with Kevin Nguyen (2026), Everlasting AI transforms an archive of online material into an interactive digital figure whom visitors can converse with. In The Oversharing Kevin Nguyen (2026), Kevin becomes an aspiring writer, continually developing story ideas from imagined experiences, romantic encounters, and personal memories through https://t.co/m1MpQwPzig.

Together, the works explore the tension between individual identity and collective imagination, and between the production of ideas and their ownership, asking how artificial intelligence might transform the ways identities and narratives are created, expressed, and experienced.

Discover The Future of Expression at West Bund Art & Design 2026.

10–15 November 2026
West Bund Art Center, Shanghai

#kevinnguyen
#kevinnguyen2026
#chatwithkevin

[ARTIFACT Futures @ARTIFACTfutures]

The Future of Expression

When Technology Becomes Part of How We Create, Remember, and Imagine

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly involved in writing, memory, and creative processes, how is technology changing the ways we express ideas, tell stories, and understand ourselves? What new possibilities might these changes open up for art and culture?

Bringing together independent curator Yang Zi, https://t.co/m1MpQwPzig founder Tim Shen, Everlasting AI founder Liu Xiaoben, and ARTIFACT Futures Venture Partner Henry Yuan, this conversation explores how emerging technologies are transforming human expression through perspectives from contemporary art, artificial intelligence, writing, digital memory, identity, and technology entrepreneurship.

From AI-assisted thinking and writing to the preservation and reconstruction of memory, and from questions of authorship and identity to new forms of cultural practice, the speakers will draw from their respective work to consider how technological experimentation might reshape the ways we create, communicate, and imagine.

Moderated by Muchun Niu, founder of ARTIFACT Futures.

Speakers
Yang Zi | Independent Curator
Tim Shen | Founder, https://t.co/m1MpQwPzig
Liu Xiaoben | Founder, Everlasting AI
Henry Yuan | Venture Partner, ARTIFACT Futures

Moderator
Muchun Niu | Founder, ARTIFACT Futures

14 November 2026, 12:30–13:30
West Bund Art & Design, Shanghai

[ARTIFACT Futures @ARTIFACTfutures]

ARTIFACT Futures presents The Future of Expression at West Bund Art & Design, taking place from 10–15 November 2026 at the West Bund Art Center in Shanghai.

Bringing together artistic experimentation, emerging technologies, and publishing, the presentation explores how artificial intelligence is changing the ways we think, create, and communicate, raising new questions about authorship, identity, and the possibilities of human expression.

At the center of the presentation is a new experimental collaboration between artist Koa Pham and ARTIFACT Futures Builder Projects https://t.co/m1MpQwP1sI and Everlasting AI, revolving around Kevin Nguyen – a fictional character emerging from an internet meme that has circulated widely within Asian diasporic communities since the late 2010s.

Through two interconnected works, visitors can encounter Kevin as an interactive digital figure shaped by an evolving archive of online material, and as an aspiring writer generating unfinished stories from his imagined experiences and memories. Together, the works explore how collective imagination shapes identity, how ideas are produced and owned, and how AI might transform the ways identities and narratives are created, expressed, and experienced.

The presentation also marks the release of the three-year anniversary Chinese edition of ARTIFACT Futures Journal, bringing together selected material from its first two issues alongside a reflection on the development of ARTIFACT Futures since 2023.

The Future of Expression forms part of ARTIFACT Futures' 2026 Annual Inquiry, The Future is Behind Us.

10–15 November 2026
West Bund Art Center, Shanghai

[ARTIFACT Futures @ARTIFACTfutures]

What if future generations could still speak to us hundreds of years from now?

In his previous reflection, Xiaoben Liu considers the three forms of death and how digital immortality might reshape our relationship with memory and mortality.

In this video, he extends this idea further by imagining a future where it's not just about being remembered, but it's also about remaining accessible to future generations. For Xiaoben, digital immortality could offer a way for future generations to engage with the experiences and perspectives of those who came before, extending our presence beyond the limits of biological life and collective memory.

[ARTIFACT Futures @ARTIFACTfutures]

If AI can automate more of our work, what space remains for human creativity, contribution, and fulfillment?

How can we use AI to expand what people are capable of doing without losing sight of the value of human work?

In this video, @KolentoH draws a distinction between using AI to augment human capabilities and deploying it to replace human workers. He raises questions about how people can continue to find purpose through work and create new value as AI transforms the workplace.

[ARTIFACT Futures @ARTIFACTfutures]

What can happen when we bring together people who might never otherwise cross paths?

How can the spaces and structures we create help those encounters lead to unexpected connections, new ideas, and different ways of seeing the world?

In this video, Dr. Daniel Glaser reflects on the importance of deliberately building spaces for interaction, creating opportunities for people to exchange perspectives and arrive at ideas they might not have reached on their own.

[Emergences Labs @EmergencesLabs]

What if @Techweek_ wasn't just about the future of technology, but also about the future of being human?

Emergences Labs brought founders, investors, and researchers to The Art of San Francisco for an evening of art, music, and two questions:

What makes us irreplaceable?
How do we keep growing as AI advances?

We also shared our “Will Your Job Be Replaced by AI?” test, sparking conversations about human skills and potential.

Why an art gallery? Because the future of humanity shouldn’t be imagined by technologists alone.

Thank you @ARTIFACTfutures, MoE Capital (@HenryYin_ and @naomiiixia), @gmi_cloud (@alex_yehya and @nicoleegong) and @jpmorgan for making it possible, and Daniel Paredes from @Sierra_Ventures for the music.

[ARTIFACT Futures @ARTIFACTfutures]

As a content-first tech summit, Alignment 2026: Live from the AI Frontier, Uncut brought developments in AI into focus through an immersive experience of visual design, live demonstrations and storytelling.

Thank you to @thevalley101 for inviting us to be part of this two-day gathering. The program offered a closer look at the the research, technologies, and ideas advancing the field, while creating opportunities for new connections and discussions surrounding what comes next.

#ARTIFACTFutures #sftechweek

[ARTIFACT Futures @ARTIFACTfutures]

The Agent Economy Gala 2026 brought together founders, operators, and investors from across the AI agent ecosystem for an evening centered on the technologies, infrastructure, and tools shaping this emerging field.

Thank you to the co-hosts @lemma_, @llama_index, @Tiny_Fish, @thelinqapp, and @obvious for inviting us to join the event as part of @Techweek_ by a16z.

From agent products and infrastructure to developer tools and reliability, the gathering brought attention to the different layers of an ecosystem developing around increasingly autonomous systems. It was a valuable opportunity to connect with others working across the field, and to exchange perspectives as the agent economy continues to take shape.

#ARTIFACTFutures #SFTechWeek

[ARTIFACT Futures @ARTIFACTfutures]

As part of #SFTechWeek by a16z @Techweek_ , Human × AI: A Gallery Evening — Founders, Investors, and Researchers brought together AI founders, researchers, investors, and members of the art world for an evening of conversation on our evolving relationship with AI.

Through discussion and participatory experiments, the gathering explored how AI is reshaping human capability and agency, and what it might mean to rethink our place alongside increasingly capable machines.

Thank you to our co-hosts, @EmergencesLabs, MoE Capital, @gmi_cloud, and @jpmorgan, for bringing this evening together with us.

We look forward to continuing these conversations through our 2026 Inquiry, The Future Is Behind Us, which began in London in June and will conclude in Abu Dhabi this December.

#ARTIFACTFutures #SFTechWeek

[ARTIFACT Futures @ARTIFACTfutures]

How can we utilize AI tools to support our creative process without letting them take over our judgement?

Where should we draw the line between using AI for efficiency and preserving the author's space for independent thought?

In this video, Tim Shen discusses the balance between AI-assisted efficiency and authorial autonomy. He considers how tools like https://t.co/m1MpQwP1sI can help authors identify mistakes and inconsistencies, while still leaving room for them to think through, refine, and take ownership of their work.

[ARTIFACT Futures @ARTIFACTfutures]

POV: You're trying to attend every event at SF Tech Week

Thank you @Techweek_ for a week of shared inquiry, in the rooms we joined and the one we hosted. The conversations offered an opportunity to explore how AI intersects with the ways we work, create, and understand the world, and what new questions might emerge when various disciplines, perspectives, and ways of thinking meet.

[ARTIFACT Futures @ARTIFACTfutures]

What could video games have to do with the way we understand nature?

Could games become an entry point for rethinking not only how we respond to climate change, but also how our economic systems relate to the natural world?

In this video, Jacob S. Walker introduces Yokai Systems and reflects on an economic model that largely understands nature as a resource for extraction. He considers what it might mean to imagine a different relationship between economic systems and the natural world.

[ARTIFACT Futures @ARTIFACTfutures]

What does it take to create a space where different ways of seeing can meet?

For Dr. Daniel Glaser, it begins with narrative generosity: a willingness to listen to others on their own terms, and to allow them to tell their stories in their own words.

In this video, he considers how this generosity can open up new possibilities for collaboration between art and science, while making space for voices that have not always been heard.

[Kolento Hou @KolentoH]

It was a privilege to speak at @britishlibrary with @ARTIFACTfutures about a question we, @EmergencesLabs, have been thinking deeply about:

As AI becomes increasingly capable, what skills should we still deliberately cultivate as humans?

I don’t think the answer is to search for skills that AI simply “cannot do yet.”

The more important question is: what should never be fully outsourced, even when AI is capable of participating?

Much of our thinking has been deeply inspired by the @OECD Learning Compass 2030/40 and its framework of Transformative Competencies.

Three dimensions feel especially important:
1. Creating new value: not merely optimizing existing answers, but deciding what is worth creating in the first place.
2. Reconciling tensions and dilemmas: navigating situations where multiple goals may all be reasonable, yet conflict with one another; continuously testing, verifying, and revising our judgment.
3. Taking responsibility: AI can recommend, predict, and generate. But humans still have to decide: Do I trust this? Should I act on it? And am I willing to take responsibility for the consequences?

This is why I’m increasingly interested not simply in AI skills, but in Human–AI co-agency.

Perhaps one of the most important capabilities in the future will not be how much a person can accomplish independently, but whether they know: what to delegate to AI, what they must continue to judge for themselves, and when they need to take control back.

[ARTIFACT Futures @ARTIFACTfutures]

What abilities remain distinctly human in a world increasingly shaped by AI?

What should we preserve and cultivate in the ways we think, create, and make decisions?

In this video, @KolentoH continues to identify three transformative competencies that resist being distilled by AI: creating new values, reconciling tensions by testing and verifying results, and taking responsibility for the consequences of our decisions.

[ARTIFACT Futures @ARTIFACTfutures]

What happens when the skills we have built our work around can be distilled and automated?

As AI takes on more forms of execution, how do we identify the kinds of human judgement and competency that remain difficult to translate into an AI-readable process?

In this video, @KolentoH considers how AI is reshaping the value of professional skills and asks what areas of transformative competency might remain beyond distillation.

[ARTIFACT Futures @ARTIFACTfutures]

What does death mean to you?

Could digital immortality change how we understand death, not only as the end of biological life, but also as the moment when a person is no longer remembered?

In this video, Xiaoben Liu reflects on three forms of death: biological death, the loss of social recognition, and the loss of memory. He considers how digital immortality might reshape our relationship with memory, mortality, and what remains after us.