By: Kars Alfrink
Part of State of Responsible Tech 2025, Generative Things
Alfrink, K. (2025). Embodied AI and Collective Power: Designing Democratic Generative Things. In RIOT 2025, State of Responsible Tech – Generative Things (pp. 75-80). Stichting ThingsCon Amsterdam
https://thingscon.org/publications/riot-2025/riot-2025-embodied-ai-and-collective-power-designing-democratic-generative-things/
Abstact (generated):
This essay interrogates the dominance of Big Tech in the development of generative AI and proposes a pathway for reclaiming designer agency through collective power and democratic infrastructures. Alfrink introduces the concept of “generative things”—physical objects embedded with AI that autonomously adapt and interact—arguing that their current trajectories risk reproducing extractive platform logics unless reimagined through alternative, public-oriented design strategies. Drawing on platform socialism (Muldoon, 2022), interstitial transformation (Wright, 2010), and critical design theory, the author outlines a three-part design model (framing, making, specifying) to position designers as agents of systemic change. The paper advocates for building contestable, transparent, and community-controlled AI systems and highlights practical challenges such as accessibility, technical infrastructure, and the need for participatory approaches. Through reflections on unionization, grassroots networks, and designer cooperatives, Alfrink calls for a shift from individual ethical responsibility toward collective, organized action capable of resisting, regulating, and recoding the future of embodied AI. This contribution repositions design as a civic practice with the potential to shape democratic alternatives to corporate AI hegemony.