AI Hype, Hope and Humanity

30 September, 1 October & 2 October 2026
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The AI Hype, Hope and Humanity (AI HHH) Festival is a space for genuine exchange, where knowledge flows in every direction, and where responsibility is treated not as an abstract principle, but as something negotiated in practice.

Over three days, the festival moves through a deliberate arc: 

  • Societal challenges and current uses of AI across domains including work, health, education, media, food, safety, and defence. 
  • Transitions and concrete ways forward, including experimentation, implementation, and innovation. 
  • Skills, education, and long-term change asking what capacities are needed to shape responsible AI futures. 

Who is this event for?

This event is designed as a festival, not a traditional academic conference. It brings together academics, practitioners, and policymakers working on AI, while opening up the conversation to students, creatives, families, and anyone curious about how AI is shaping society.

Researchers remain at the heart of the programme, but in a format that goes beyond presentations and papers, creating space for dialogue, interaction, and exchange with a wider audience.

Visitors can explore the programme in their own way, whether that’s through hands-on experiences, creative work, discussions, or more in-depth academic sessions. Alongside plenary sessions, paper presentations, workshops, and debates, the festival will feature demos, expo-style showcases, and a startup competition focused on responsible AI solutions, where finalists will pitch live.

Everyone is welcome, whether you engage with AI in your work or are simply interested in how it affects everyday life. You don’t need a technical background or a specific reason to attend, if you’re interested, you’re invited.

Why do we have the event?

Explore how responsible AI works in practice

Discover concrete applications and solutions that address real-world challenges across domains such as health, education, work, media, and safety.

Connect and collaborate across sectors

Engage with researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and societal partners, and build new collaborations that go beyond disciplinary and institutional boundaries.

Experience AI in an open and accessible way

Take part in interactive sessions, creative formats, and hands-on activities designed to make AI understandable, engaging, and relevant for a wide and diverse audience.

Register here for free

Who is organising this event?

This event is organised by the network of ELSA Labs in the Netherlands (The ELSA Labs Network Project, ELSA Lab AI MAPS, ELSA Lab Media & Democracy, ELSA Lab Defence, ELSA Lab Northern Netherlands, and the ELSA Lab AI4SFS). 

In collaboration with Erasmus University Rotterdam’s initiatives SEISMEC, COALESCE, AI@EUR, ECDA, CLI, AI PACT and AICON.

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With financial support from NWO.

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