Conference Talks & Funding Workshop: MoralPLai Project Lead visits the University of Amsterdam

On December 17-18, 2025, Dr. Franziska Poszler participated in the GenAI & Creative Practices: Past, Present and Future conference at the University of Amsterdam (UvA).

This international conference was organized by the UvA-wide community Responsible Digital Transformations and brought together researchers and practitioners to critically examine the evolving relationship between Generative AI and creative work. Themes that were addressed at the conference included, for example, Rethinking and Redoing Creative Practices in the Age of GenAI, Values & Creative Work, The Future of Creative Work and Governance and Regulation of GenAI.

During this conference, Dr. Poszler attended presentations such as “Are Generative AI Tools Worth It? Assessing the Value of Sora, Runway and Firefly in Production Courses” by Prof. J.D. Swerzenski (illustrating that approaches to integrating AI into existing production practices can work to amplify student creativity to some extent), “Framing AI, Framing Sustainability: A Discourse-Driven Analysis of Press Narratives on GenAI’s Cultural Impacts” by Dr. Giota Alevizou (demonstrating that topics such as copyright & training data issues as well as deepfake and safety concerns dominate UK Press coverage of GenAI) and Dr. Neha Bhatia’s “On the Bandwagon of Gen AI: Creative Dualities and Transformations in the Indian Film Industry”, which discussed the Indian film industry’s uptake of AI technologies for multilingual voice recreation, alongside concerns about devaluation of creative labor and increasing demands for faster content production.

The conference also featured an artistic program and a panel discussion at the OBA Theater, presenting a broad spectrum of arts and design-based research and experimentation. These ranged from slow engagement practices with AI and the modeling and financialization of the future, to synthetic audio and deep learning by artists and researchers Vera van der Burg, Femke Herregraven and Gabriele de Seta.

During the “Responsibility & Sustainability” session of the conference, Dr. Poszler also gave a presentation titled “MoralPLai–Acting Towards Responsible AI Chatbots & AI Literacy”. This presentation aimed to introduce the MoralPLai Project, provide an overview of the key themes addressed in the research-based play The Third Voice, while also reflecting on audience responses. Additionally, it highlighted the value of arts-based approaches to facilitate AI literacy and the design of human-centered AI. Dr. Poszler additionally shared audience reflections highlighting the educational value of theater compared to conventional scientific outreach:

• “I think, because these characters were so relatable to everyday life, which is always the opening doors for people, because they can relate it to their own life story. I think that’s the door opener compared to a scientific paper, where not many people have access to… Not many people will understand or put time in reading it.”
• “I think theater is always a good art form that allows you to, kind of… show new perspectives on all kinds of topics. And why not scientific topics? Although it’s kind of unusual… you don’t see that that often. But it certainly worked.”
• “Being touched personally and feeling the difficulties around this is something for me what learning is also about. (…) I think being touched by and felt …‘felt sense’ it’s called. So, for people who are not into science so much, it’s a great opportunity to learn a little bit more about science.”

One day after the conference, Dr. Poszler participated in a closed workshop on “The Philosophy & Ethics of Creative AI: Seed-Funding Event” at the Institute for Advanced Study, University of Amsterdam. Invited speakers discussed relevant funding schemes of NWO, Horizon Europe, Stimulerings Fond, as well as sharing their own personal experience of seeking funding in this area. Participation in workshops such as these is crucial to the MoralPLai Project and its future development.

Read more about the GenAI & Creative Practices conference here.

Interested to learn more? Visit the MoralPLai Project webpage and stay tuned for updates.