The year is coming to an end. A good moment for us to reflect on what we learned in 2025.
Practicing what we preach
In September, we published a blog post explaining why, at SUPERRR, we use AI only in very limited ways in our work. At the time, we heard from all sides that many organizations around us were grappling with the question of which AI policies they should implement. Normally, we would develop and discuss such a “no AI use” policy internally and never share it publicly.
This time, however, it was important to us to make our position public. We wanted to show that there are alternatives to simply following the hype and that choosing these alternatives can be a clear commitment to one’s own values. As an organization that takes a power-critical view of technology and continuously critiques AI, Big Tech, monopolies, tech-solutionism, and much more, it felt only consistent for us to reject AI in its current form.
With this stance, we wanted to set an example and inspire others. It was never about pointing fingers at those who choose to use this technology. Practicing what you preach can be incredibly powerful. The fact that so many people responded to the post encouraged us to share more insights from behind the scenes in the future.
Patience, Because Change Takes Time
At times, our work can feel like running in a hamster wheel, repeating the same messages without seeing immediate change. What can a small feminist organization achieve against such powerful forces?
It helps to remember that real change often takes a generation or more. The seeds we plant today may not be the ones we harvest ourselves. Still, community work, collective imagination, resistance, and solidarity remain essential. This is a lesson we have learned from the data workers we collaborate with, who remind us that the work they are doing is not for themselves, but for those that come after.
Systems do not change overnight, but if we stay committed and continue to grow our communities, this work will matter in the long run. We believe every strong idea begins by bringing together people with different perspectives. That is what we did at our second Digital Futures Gathering in October, where we brought together 55 people from different fields to explore what thriving digital futures could look like – ones where we don’t apply carceral logics to tech-facilitated gender based violence, but instead think about what we all actually need to be safe on- and offline. We’ll share more about the Digital Futures Gathering on the event website soon, stay tuned.
"What we cannot imagine cannot come into being"
For most of us, our default is to think that existing conditions cannot be changed –convinced that there is no alternative, with other worlds unthinkable and unsayable.
At SUPERRR, our work challenges these ways of thinking. Together with many others, we sketch, map, and design to make a better world imaginable and therefore tangible. For us, futures work is not something we apply only in workshops. It runs through every fiber of our organization. This year, we have spent a lot of time as a team refining and learning futures methods, applying them across our different fields of work.
Every project at SUPERRR draws heavily on this work and expertise. We want to share this mindset with others. In 2026, we will build on our work around futures literacy for civil society and, together with civil society actors and beyond, experiment with new methods. One way to join us is through our series in Berlin libraries, where we take a power-critical look at AI and collectively imagine desirable futures. You can find more info here.