We asked 10 organizations from around the world to tell us how they and others are operating and adapting in the context of AI and algorithm-driven platforms. We found they are co-opting technology and culture, countering surveillance and disinformation, and innovating – finding new ways of storytelling and organizing to challenge authoritarianism and show up for democracy and justice.

This report summarizes our findings and includes links to all of the project materials, including: 

• An Annotated Bibliography: The Narrative Terrain of AI and New Technology

• Two blog posts about narratives about AI and the role of artists and storytellers in shaping the AI narrative landscape

• An Original Essay on AI and Democracy by Daniel Stanley of the Future Narratives Lab

• 10 Global Majority Case Studies, organized into three general approaches:

1. Co-opting: Harnessing popular culture and new technologies for resistance

• IIRESODH – The Eternaut Effect & Toolkit

• Fogo Cruzado – Challenging Narratives on Police Violence in Favelas

2. Countering: Education and Campaigning against Surveillance and Digital Attacks

• Derechos Digitales – Narrating Resistance: Social media campaigns on surveillance and Human Rights in Latin America & Slide Deck

• LatFem – Feminist Narrative Strategies as Tool of Resistance and Driver for Transnational Learning

3. a: Innovating in Journalism and fact-based storytelling

• Polis Project – Voices from the Margins: Vernacular Media and Narrative Resistance in Authoritarian India

• Mada Masr – How to Stay Independent: Arab Media and the Politics of Staying with the Trouble

• Alharaca – From place-based audio walks to a portable collective-listening interactive experience: Prototyping Ciudad Perdida Across Latin America and Germany

3. b: Innovating in narrative and civic engagement

• Tunisia Digital Democracy Partnership –Decoding Authoritarian Narratives in the Algorithmic Age

• The Storywork Collective – Narrative Approaches to Undoing Digital Constraints

• Equality Hub – The Salt of the Story: Queer Feminist Filmmaking as Narrative Resistance