“Future Wake” (www.futurewake.com) is an interactive website that scrutinizes the present state of predictive policing with a specific focus on forecasting police brutality. Awarded the Mozilla 2021 Creative Media Award, the project leverages Artificial Intelligence to scrutinize data regarding fatal police encounters in the U.S., aiming to foresee future incidents. It generates computer-simulated avatars that represent composite victims, narrating each of their stories. By presenting potential future victims to its audience, “Future Wake” provokes critical thought about the efficacy and ethics of predictive policing. It challenges viewers to ponder the true meaning of societal safety, how it is defined, and importantly, who is marginalized or overlooked within these systems.
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Selected Publications
[2024] Embodying Data, Shifting Perspective
Book • Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press • Wevers, R Edited by Ponzanesi, S. and Leurs, Koen.
This chapter discusses the artistic project Future Wake (2021) by Ahnjili Zhuparris and Tim van Ommeren that examines predictive policing. By shifting the focus from possible future crime offenders to possible future victims of fatal police encounters, using visual and affective means rather than expert knowledge and statistics, the artwork activates critical reflection on the politics and logics of predictive policing systems. The chapter first situates predictive policing in a context of securitization, and discusses how it enhances structures of discrimination. In the second part, Wevers interviews artist Zhuparris about the aims of Future Wake, discussing the artistic and technical process of creating the project, the politics of data, and the role of art in critical discussion on surveillance and AI.
[2022] Can AI imagine the next victims of police violence?
It's Nice That • London, United Kingdom
What are the issues with using AI for predictive policing? Could it reduce crime or does it reinforce racial biases in the criminal justice system? The co-founder of art project Future Wake examines unjust policing using AI and storytelling.
[2021] This horrifying AI model predicts future instances of police brutality
Fast Company • Mark Sullivan • United States
A searing critique of predictive policing, Future Wake uses past data on police violence to predict where it might occur in the future—and who will be targeted.
[2021] Future Wake: the AI art project that predicts police violence
Coda Story • Caitlin Thompson • United States
Winner of the Mozilla Creative Media award for 2021, an interactive website calculates when and where fatal encounters with law enforcement will occur — and tells the stories of the victims.
[2021] Artists create AI that predicts who the police will kill next
The Next Web • Thomas Macaulay • Netherlands
Future Wake tells the stories of potential victims.