Fantastic Futures 2025 now seems like a distant memory, which makes it even more enjoyable to read this blog post and recall all of the brilliant papers and inspiring interactions with colleagues! Slides, posters and recordings now available, enjoy! https://www.bl.uk/stories/blogs/posts/fantastic-futures-2025-highlights-and-resources

#ff2025 #AI4LAM #britishlibrary

Have you written anything about the British Library and @AI4LAM 's Fantastic Futures conference? We'd love to share your links if so - let us know! #FF2025

'Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the house
Not a creature was stirring -
Not even a mouse...

Because everyone was watching the videos from the 2025 Fantastic Futures conference! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMWAkdzaapXgOYfyFX6RO485EPzVKQEeo

Two days of talks on AI and machine learning in libraries, archives and museums #AI4LAM #FF2025

#FF2025 pickings:

@danielvanstrien has published his workshop slides on open source AI for #GLAM institutions

https://danielvanstrien.xyz/slides.html

I consider his readworthy contribution as the AI complement to my reflections on open data (and their shades) published here:

https://mmk.sbb.berlin/2024/06/21/openness-and-some-of-its-shades/?lang=en

#openAccess #opensource #fiftyshadesofgrey

📣 While I've been busy at #FF2025, my colleagues Blanka & Hannah have been putting together an exciting webinar on "The CARE Principles for Indigenous Data and Data Sovereignty", coming up this Thursday 11 December! It's packed with speakers and perspectives from Australia & NZ, North America and Europe and completely free!

For timezone reasons it's split into a morning and an evening session, so feel free to join us for one or both.

More details here: https://mastodon.social/@dariaheu/115683434892158485

#FF2025 pickings:
This year has been extremely productive with regard to the AI & commons debate, as well as in view of the publication of open datasets in the public domain. My recommendations (1/3):

Paul Keller & Europeana Foundation: Publishing cultural heritage data in the age of AI, Dec 2025
https://openfuture.eu/publication/impulse-paper-publishing-cultural-heritage-data-in-the-age-of-ai/

Thomas Padilla et al: Public Interest Corpus Principles and Goals, Dec 2025
https://www.authorsalliance.org/2025/12/03/releasing-the-public-interest-corpus-principles-and-goals/

Some photos from Fantastic Futures #FF2025 uploaded on the Lizzy line wifi to Heathrow... looks like some doubles, which I'll sort out from Melbourne https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=12383598%40N00&view_all=1&text=%23ff2025

If you're in a photo and don't want to be, let me know and I'll remove it from view

One final thank you to everyone who made #FF2025 so good - it was a huge team effort! Safe travels to the non-Londoners! I'm off to Melbourne for a few weeks - happy to share the 'best of' over coffee with folk there!

#FF2025 handing over to #FF2026!

Safe travels to all the #ff2025 #ai4lam visitors from all of us in the British Library Digital Research Team! See you at Fantastic Futures 2026 in Washington D.C. next September!

That's a wrap on three awesome days discussing all things Artificial Intelligence in, for, and by Libraries, Archives and Museums! Thank you #ff2025 presenters and participants for joining us and making it such a smashing event. Keep an eye on the #ai4lam YouTube channel for recordings https://www.youtube.com/@ai4lam120/videos. There are lots of ways to stay connected with the #ai4lam community throughout the year, join today and we'll see you at future community calls and events! https://sites.google.com/view/ai4lam/home?authuser=0#h.p_i5PiJLPECTVp

Dr. Ines Vodopivec (Secretary General of AI4LAM) and Mike Keller (Stanford University Libraries) closing #FF2025 at the @bldigischol.bsky.social

That's @dorothyjberry delivering an incredible closing keynote at #FF2025

Some focusing questions:
How do we describe archives?
Why do we describe archives?
What are we trying to automate?

I loved @jasonclark.bsky.social 's #FF2025 'problem statement':

'We were given access to a weirdly confident intern that can’t explain how they got their answers.

It is a seamless interface that breaks search interaction + retrieval patterns.'

https://bsky.app/profile/jasonclark.bsky.social/post/3m7ajfiwo6s2b

The list of #FF2025 participants* should now be available if you're logged into conftool

* only people who've opted in, of course!

My lightning talk at #FF2025, “Refactoring the @IIIF Artificial Intelligence Community“ https://zenodo.org/records/17831102

Lightning talks include IIIF's AI/ML working group presented by the excellent Martin Kalfatovic https://www.conftool.org/fantastic-futures-2025/index.php?page=browseSessions&ismobile=true&form_session=26 #FF2025

Ethical Considerations Around Machine Learning-Engaged Online Participatory Research - poster from Zooniverse community at #FF2025 https://zenodo.org/records/17779992

What would be some of the concrete and *realistic* terms/features of “responsible AI” practices in your opinion (not of the pie-in-the-sky type)? I would love to hear from folks at #FF2025 if you have thoughts on this topic. Thank you!

I am so sorry that I have to tell that I already had to leave #ff2025 …
… otho please know that I have the ambitious plan to reach Berlin/Germany by train TODAY using EuroStar and (being an adventurous traveler) Deutsche Bahn, thus showing real chuzpe.

Thank you so much to all the incredible organisers of this superb conference, especially @mia and @nfitzger - very much looking forward to see all of you again on one of the upcoming Fantastic Futures!