Hi all!
Thanks for landing here and reading my weekly newsletter. If you are new here, have a more extended bio on targetisnew.com. This newsletter is my personal weekly reflection on the news of the past week, with a lens of understanding the unpredictable futures of human-ai co-performances in a context of full immersive connectedness and the impact on society, organizations, and design. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you want to know more or more specifically.
What did happen last week?
The usual mix of activities. Working on the Civic Protocol Economies research and planning of the workshop. And debriefing students for a project on generative things and makerslab.
And working on RIOT 2025, the unconference and salon our announced, check them out!
More ThingsCon: working on the exhibition Generative Things at Hyperlink festival in Waag on 14 June.
I discussed a masterclass on responsible AI that became a fruitful conversation on a more substantial theme to cover. More on that later.
Ingrid invited me to join the session at Huis Leyduin with Marco Derksen on the ethical dilemmas in times of AI. It was a long time we had seen each other in person (we even did a extensive research together on ebusiness maturity way back), and he is still mastering to bring the story across for all types of audiences.
Earlier that week I attended a session organized by VONK on the curse of Big Tech by Reijer Passchier. So this was a good week for reflecting on responsible tech for sure!
I had good conversations in the last weeks on my personal endeavors, as the balance between contract work and voluntary activities is not healthy at the moment. I like to mention them, they read this newsletter; Marco, Monica, and Ingmar. Thanks!
What did I notice last week?
In short, scroll down for longer list.
- OpenAI introduces Codex for vibe coding.
- Google is now coding itself and inventing new algoritmes
- Xai’s Grok is downplaying the holocaust.
- Prompt engineering with agents
- Robotic things for elderly care, and learning environment
- Soft robotic wave, and fast food robotic employees
- Mind control and cyberpunk aesthetics
- Tiktok as safe space for LGBTQ
- General purpose AI and the post-work city
What triggered my thoughts?
This week’s Triggered Thought explores some potentially interconnected developments in AI: ubiquitous AI in our environments, the balance within human-AI teams, the evolution of prompt engineering through agents, and how digital twins are evolving toward simulated realities that orchestrate our interactions.
The concept of human-AI teams connects directly to our Cities of Things thinking from 2018, which is now rapidly becoming reality with agentic AI. A critical distinction exists between creating teams of different AIs as replacement workforces versus designing environments where humans and AI form truly collaborative teams. How we approach this distinction will fundamentally shape our relationship with intelligent systems.
Simultaneously, prompt engineering is evolving beyond human expertise. Initially emerging as a crucial professional role when generative AI became widely accessible, we’re now witnessing agentic AI systems that create better prompts independently and take initiative to learn user preferences. These systems engage users in meaningful dialogues to handle increasingly complex tasks, potentially eliminating the need for human prompt engineers altogether.
This shift in agency connects directly to the concept of immersive AI—the ubiquitous integration of intelligence into our physical environments. In my forthcoming article in the RIOT publication (available in about 3 weeks), I explore what happens when we live within environments where AI is connected to all objects around us, creating a seamless intelligent fabric that shapes our experiences.
A concerning aspect of these developments is our potential loss of capabilities and understanding. Currently, prompt creation helps us comprehend AI systems. If this interaction is removed, we might maintain only the illusion of control while actually surrendering agency in the relationship.
Nvidia’s recent robotic AI initiatives illustrate how these threads converge. Rather than simply creating AI for robots, they’re developing sophisticated simulation environments that serve as the “brains” behind physical robots. This represents an inversion of edge computing trends—instead of moving intelligence to devices (which potentially increases human agency), these simulation environments centralize control in cloud systems that orchestrate physical behavior from afar.
This simulation-based approach amplifies Big Tech’s already concerning control. Previously criticized for surveillance economics and platform monopolies, their dominance becomes significantly more problematic with advanced AI capabilities. The massive computing power and data required for these simulation environments further concentrate power in the hands of a few corporations.
What emerges is not simply a digital twin that mirrors reality, but rather a simulation layer that increasingly orchestrates reality itself—a meta-layer invisible to us that controls our physical world through agentic relationships. I’m not suggesting we live in a simulation, we may though increasingly find ourselves living by simulation, with our interactions mediated through agentic systems that appear to respond to our prompts while actually following deeper patterns established in environments we cannot access or influence.
What inspiring paper to share?
Large Language Models Are More Persuasive Than Incentivized Human Persuaders
Overall, our findings suggest that AI’s persuasion capabilities already exceed those of humans that have real-money bonuses tied to performance. Our findings of increasingly capable AI persuaders thus underscore the urgency of emerging alignment and governance frameworks.
Schoenegger, P., Salvi, F., Liu, J., Nan, X., Debnath, R., Fasolo, B., … & Karger, E. (2025). Large Language Models Are More Persuasive Than Incentivized Human Persuaders. arXiv preprint arXiv:2505.09662
https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.09662
What are the plans for the coming week?
Check the announcements of Microsoft Build, Google I/O and Anthropic dev conference.
I will check the unconference on digital autonomy. TU Delft has an event on future mobility. And a new event on data design. Sensemakers has handson edge AI.
Enjoy your week!
target is new 