Children are the builders of the future and crucial to how the technologies around us develop. They are not voters but are participants in how the public spaces in a city are used. Through a workshop designed around kids of age 9-12, we investigate if novel technologies like artificial intelligence can be integrated in existing ways of play and performance to 1) re-imagine the future of civic spaces, 2) reflect on these novel technologies in the process and 3) build ways of civic engagement through play. We do this using a blend AI image generation and Puppet making to ultimately build future scenarios, perform debate and discussion around the futures and reflect on AI, its role and potential in their process. We present our findings of how AI helped envision these futures, aid performances, and report some initial reflections from children about the technology.

翻译：儿童是未来的建设者，对周边技术的发展至关重要。他们虽非选民，却是城市公共空间使用方式的参与者。我们围绕9-12岁儿童设计工作坊，探究人工智能等新兴技术能否融入现有的游戏与表演形式，以达成以下目标：1）重新构想公民空间的未来图景；2）在此过程中反思新兴技术；3）通过游戏建立公民参与机制。我们融合AI图像生成与木偶制作技术，构建未来场景模型，围绕未来议题开展辩论讨论，并引导儿童反思AI在其创作过程中的作用与潜力。本文呈现了AI如何协助构想未来、增强表演表现力的研究发现，并记录了儿童对该技术的初步认知反馈。