Artificial intelligence is transforming how we work, learn, create, and connect. But amid the rapid pace of technological change, one perspective is often missing from the conversation: the voices of the generation that will live with these technologies the longest.
Today, AI4ALL in partnership with the All Tomorrows Institute launched the [DEFINE]: Our AI Futures Archive, a new public collection of essays, poetry, audio stories, films, and visual art created by young adults exploring how artificial intelligence is shaping their lives and their vision of the future.
Available at defineouraifutures.com, the archive debuts with 15 original works from contributors across the United States. Participants were invited to tell their own stories about AI through whatever creative medium felt most authentic to them.
Recurring themes have already emerged across the inaugural collection of works. Many contributors wrestle with questions of what remains uniquely human in an age of AI, whether technology recognizes the value of people’s work and lived experiences, who should be held accountable when AI systems cause harm, and how the natural world can help us make sense of an increasingly digital future. Across many of the stories runs a shared tension between optimism and uncertainty as contributors imagine the role AI will play in their own lives and in society.
The stories approach these questions from deeply personal perspectives. One contributor reflects on whether creativity remains meaningful when AI enters the creative process. Another explores AI through the experience of immigration and belonging. Others examine trust, environmental responsibility, language, identity, education, work, and the responsibilities that come with building increasingly powerful technologies.
[DEFINE]: Our AI Futures is supported by a $300,000 grant from the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. The initiative was created to ensure that young people who will inherit and shape an AI-driven future have a meaningful voice in conversations about the technology’s impact on society.
“Too often, conversations about AI focus solely on the technology itself,” said Bo Young Lee, CEO of AI4ALL. “DEFINE is about centering the people who will inherit and shape this future. The stories in this archive demonstrate that young people are already thinking deeply about the opportunities, challenges, and responsibilities that come with AI. Their perspectives deserve to be part of the global conversation.”
“Every story in this archive is an act of future-making,” adds Dylan Thomas Doyle, Executive Director of the All Tomorrows Institute. “When young people write about AI and the environment, or creativity, or what it means to belong in a digital world, they’re using storytelling to stake a claim on their future that technology will help create. The goal of the DEFINE Archive is to make sure the stories of young people around the country are heard, preserved, and taken seriously by the people building technology systems today.”
Unlike traditional polling or research, the DEFINE Archive captures how young people choose to frame their own experiences with AI. The collection offers a qualitative window into the questions, hopes, concerns, and lived experiences shaping the first generation to come of age alongside artificial intelligence.
The archive represents the first phase of a broader national storytelling initiative. Submissions remain open through September 7, 2026, and additional works will be published on a rolling basis. Selected contributors will also be featured in a documentary project premiering later this year.
For more information about AI4ALL, please contact Nicole Halmi at nicole@ai-4-all.org or visit ai-4-all.org.