Taking place in Sydney on 13 October, humAIn will see Barlow and Cooper take to the stage for The Discipline of Friction: Why the Best Brands Refuse the First Answer session.

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As AI makes it easier to generate, iterate and optimise, the session will explore what happens when efficiency begins to work against distinctiveness.

If everyone can reach a competent answer almost instantly, the advantage shifts to knowing when not to accept it — applying judgement, taste and a point of view, introducing friction where it improves the work, and resisting the pull towards the average.

Barlow brings the perspective of one of the world’s most recognisable technology brands. She leads Uber’s International Marketing team across more than 60 countries in APAC, EMEA and LATAM, following senior global marketing roles at YouTube and Google. Her work at Uber includes campaigns such as Tonight I’ll Be Eating, Get Almost Almost Anything and When You’ve Done Enough.

Cooper has spent his career at the intersection of creativity and emerging technology. Formerly AI Products Lead at R/GA and innovation leader at M&C Saatchi, he is now founder of Brainstrust and leads D&AD’s research into AI and creativity.

His latest work examines what happens to judgement and creative development when technology removes more of the friction involved in making things.

Also joining the humAIn program is a deliberately analogue counterpoint: OI: Original Intelligence, led by Ashlea Vallance, founder of Screen Swap by The Screenery.

With teams now spending much of their working lives moving between Slack, Zoom, Figma, Notion and an expanding stack of AI tools, Screen Swap asks delegates to swap one kind of screen for another.

In the hands-on screen-printing session, participants will choose a colour and print their own piece using eco-friendly ink and linen. No prompting, training or prior experience is required, with each participant leaving with something they have physically made themselves.

Vallance will also bring the idea of getting off-screen and connecting in the real world onto the main conference floor on day one through a Collective Banner Activation.

A large humAIn-branded banner will be set up at the conference, with participants invited to contribute a print during breaks and lunch throughout the day.

At the end of the day, the completed banner will be hung in the conference space, where it will remain on display for the rest of the event, giving everyone who contributed a stake in the collective piece.