AI celebrity Bruce Ryder will feature in an interactive experience across the humAIn event, bringing genAI interactive storytelling into the conference programme.
humAIn has announced a collaboration between creative director Emma Barbato and multimedia artist Luke Burton to create an interactive experience for delegates at its 2026 event on 13 and 14 October.
The experience pairs Bruce Ryder, Barbato’s AI celebrity, with Burton’s Sydney-based generative AI and multimedia art project The Lost Futures. Bruce will make a series of on-screen appearances across the two days, each carrying a clue. Delegates who collect and solve the clues will enter the running for a prize.
The collaboration demonstrates how AI can support participatory storytelling, a practice both artists will bring to this year’s programme.
Barbato, who works as Miss Em through her studio Duke and Dame AI, created Bruce as a fictional entertainer living on the Gold Coast in 1978. Launched in June 2023 as a brand ambassador for men’s grooming company Ducks Nuts, the character was named AI Influencer of the Year at the 2025 Australian AI Festival.
The Bruce Ryder Show now runs on streaming startup GenFlix, where Barbato developed technology that allows viewers to influence the experience. She describes the approach as “hyperfiction”, in which audiences participate in a story and shape its direction.
The Lost Futures returns to humAIn after staging a live installation at the previous event. Burton was among the first artists to test OpenAI’s DALL·E 2 and won the 2026 AARON Award for Best Synthography for his work with Crocs.
The conference experience also connects to Barbato’s Day 2 workshop, Build Your First Interactive World, powered by GenFlix. Participants will develop an idea into a blueprint for an interactive experience, defining what audiences encounter, the choices available to them, the consequences of those choices and what the experience should remember.
The workshop requires no coding or technical knowledge and offers delegates a practical introduction to designing participatory experiences.