The Future Is Not [_What It Used To Be]

Arrival, Registration & Lunch Bites

Participants arrive at the Symphony Offices, register, and meet fellow attendees and the Scriptorium team over informal lunch bites.

Opening Welcome

Marc Cloosterman, Nanne Bos

A welcome from the Scriptorium Initiative team to mark the start of the conference. We'll take a moment to introduce ourselves, this year's conference theme, ‘The Future Is Not What It Used To Be’, welcome participants, and share a few words about the days ahead before the programme gets underway.

Talking to Robots, Connecting to People

Yohann John, Nanne Bos

An opening session exploring the fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence, its capabilities and limitations. Drawing on his whitepaper, Crossing the Rubicon, Nanne Bos then explores the implications for brand and communications teams, and the role of leadership, human judgement and trust as AI becomes part of everyday practice.

Coffee Break

Live Demonstration: The Agentic Communications Team

Nanne Bos

A live crisis simulation demonstrating how an agentic communications team can monitor, analyse and respond to a developing issue in real time, illustrating how AI agents can work alongside human communications professionals.

Discussion & Reflection

Christiaan Uittenbosch

A facilitated discussion bringing together the afternoon's key insights, with an opportunity for participants to share questions and reflections before the Scriptorium Fellows join the conference the following morning.

Welcome Dinner — Location TBD

A dinner at a restaurant in Amsterdam.

Arrival & Coffee

Arrival of the Scriptorium Fellows and networking with conference participants.

The Future Is Not What It Used To Be

Nanne Bos

A shared opening to the conference day, welcoming the Scriptorium Fellows and connecting the foundations established on Wednesday with the journey ahead. The session will set the scene for the conference's central themes.

AI, Creativity & The Future of Human Imagination

David Raichman

David Raichman is Creative Director and Global Creative Lead AI at WPP. He created some of the first generative AI ad campaigns, winning at Cannes Lions (including Gold), One Show, LIA, Clio and Epica (Best Use of AI), and founded the Ogilvy AI Lab, a WPP Center of Excellence. A member of the OpenAI Artist Program since 2023 and a creative partner of Runway and ByteDance, he makes surrealist AI films and photography as Davethepreacher (100K+ Instagram followers). He held one of the first AI photography exhibitions in Paris and has also exhibited in London. He holds degrees in art, philosophy and computer science, and co-chairs the AACC's AI & Innovation commission. His conviction: human irrationality is creativity's competitive advantage.

Q&A

Interactive Creativity Challenge: Human + Machine

Wytse Koetse

A short, playful creativity exercise exploring what happens when generative AI enters the creative process. Participants will experiment with AI as a creative partner and reflect on whether it expands creative thinking, accelerates it, or changes where creativity actually resides.

Coffee Break

AI Filmmaking & The New Creative Frontier

Wytse Koetse

Wytse Koetse is a lifelong filmmaker and editor based in Amsterdam, with a career focused on storytelling and extensive international experience. He describes AI as giving him ‘wings’ — the ability to bring ideas to life independently, without large crews or budgets — and is a strong advocate for the democratization of filmmaking.

Q&A

Group Discussion: Is Creativity Uniquely Human?

Christiaan Uittenbosch

A moderated discussion inviting participants to reflect on the morning's experiences and how AI is changing creativity, authorship, storytelling and creative leadership within their own organizations.

Networking Lunch

Would You Hire a Synthetic CEO?

Scriptorium Research | Nanne Bos

Nanne Bos introduces Elena, Scriptorium's synthetic CEO created using Tavus, through a live conversation. The demonstration offers a first-hand look at synthetic leadership, opening up questions about trust, credibility and the role of AI in representing an organisation.

Synthetic Personalities & Human Relationships

Lotte Willemsen

As organizations increasingly interact with digital humans, AI agents and synthetic personalities, entirely new questions emerge around trust, relationships, authenticity and human perception. This session explores how people respond to increasingly human-like AI and what this means for communications professionals and organizational leaders.

Q&A

Coffee Break

NSI Case Study: Synthetic Humans in Practice

Bart Verhulst (SurgeIR) & Martijn Massen (NSI)

Bart Verhulst is the founder of SurgeIR, where he develops AI-driven communication and synthetic media solutions for organizations. Together with Martijn Massen, Head of IR and Treasury at NSI N.V., they will present a practical case demonstrating the current capabilities of synthetic humans, multilingual avatars and AI-generated representation, together with real organizational applications and lessons learned.

Q&A

Coffee Break

Group Discussion: Where Would You Draw the Line?

Christiaan Uittenbosch

What would you trust an augmented or AI-generated representative to do on behalf of your organization? Participants reflect on the day's examples and explore where they would draw the boundaries around representation, disclosure, authenticity and human responsibility.

Closing Remarks

Marc Cloosterman / Nanne Bos

A short reflection connecting the day's journey from augmented creativity to augmented representation and introducing Friday's exploration of the human boundary.

Conference Dinner

A dinner with all conference attendees at the Drift museum.

Arrival & Coffee

Welcome back and informal networking.

The Human Boundary: Consciousness, Agency, Identity & Responsibility in the Age of AI

Dr. Bart van der Sloot

Dr. Bart van der Sloot is a philosopher, legal scholar and AI researcher whose work explores the intersection of technology, privacy, fundamental rights and philosophy. His research examines how increasingly intelligent systems challenge our understanding of humanity, responsibility and society.

In this extended keynote, Bart will explore what remains uniquely human as AI becomes increasingly capable, examining questions surrounding consciousness, agency, identity, autonomy and responsibility.

Q&A

Coffee Break

Looking Back, Looking Ahead: AI Developments & the Scriptorium Labs

Marc Cloosterman

An opening to the final day reflecting on how rapidly the AI landscape has evolved over the past year and highlighting the developments most relevant to communications leaders and organizations. From increasingly capable models and agents to new forms of organizational intelligence and decision support, the session will provide a concise overview of where AI stands today and where it may be heading next.

Against this backdrop, the Scriptorium team will introduce the work currently taking place within the Scriptorium Labs and how emerging AI capabilities are being translated into practical experiments, prototypes and new ways of working for the communications function.

Inside the Scriptorium Labs: Interactive Demonstrations

Participants will divide into three groups for parallel, hands-on demonstrations of two Scriptorium Labs concepts. After the first demonstration, the groups will switch rooms so that everyone experiences both.

Room I | Enterprise Foresight

Yohann John, Marc Cloosterman

A live demonstration of the Enterprise Foresight module, showing how AI can help organizations identify, interpret and anticipate emerging developments relevant to their communications environment. Participants will see the system working in real time and explore how foresight capabilities could support more anticipatory communications and decision-making.

Room II | The Augmented Board

Eric van Hall, Nanne Bos

An interactive demonstration of the Scriptorium's work on augmented organizational intelligence. Participants will experience how AI agents and augmented roles can work alongside human leaders and communications professionals, supporting analysis, perspective-taking, challenge and decision-making.

Room III | EventLabs/ WeAreLive: Augmented Events

TBD

Looking Back Before Moving Forwards: Closing Reflection

Marc Cloosterman

A final reflection bringing together the conference journey, from AI and trust to augmented creativity and representation, practical experimentation and, ultimately, the human boundary. Participants are invited to consider what has challenged or changed their thinking and what they will take back into their organizations.

Closing remarks from the Scriptorium Initiative and a final look ahead at the questions the community will continue exploring together.

Closing Lunch & Goodbye

Warm lunch bites, final conversations and an informal goodbye before departure.