🔍 In this episode of Humans of AI, we speak with Airí and Pau from Domestic Data Streamers, creators of Synthetic Memories — a research initiative using generative AI to help people reconstruct lost personal and collective memories.
Aíri and Pau share how the project began during the 2015 refugee crisis and grew into a global effort to support communities affected by migration, conflict, and displacement. They discuss their unique methodology, the importance of culturally aware datasets, and how early “imperfect” AI models can actually deepen emotional recall. They also explore how synthetic memory techniques are now being tested in therapeutic contexts, including work with dementia patients.
📌 HoAI Highlights
⏲️[00:00] Intro
⏲️[00:16] The Spark
⏲️[03:40] The Impact
⏲️[08:18] The Challenge
⏲️[15:55] The Future
⏲️[21:38] The Takeaway
The Spark
🗣️“Being a refugee is not about losing your home — it’s about losing the answer to where do I come from?”
The Impact
🗣️ “AI can help preserve what displacement, conflict, and disaster try to erase.”
The Challenge
🗣️ “Archives are biased per se — so re-biasing a model means taking responsibility for representing a culture in all its richness.”
The Future
🗣️“AI should help us understand and connect with each other, not just control or optimise.”
The Takeaway
🗣️ “The value of a well-used tool is not in what it produces for us, but in what it produces within us.”
📌 About Our Guests
Airí Dordas & Pau Aleikum | Synthetic Memories
🌐 http://www.syntheticmemories.net
Synthetic Memories is a research initiative by Domestic Data Streamers that uses generative AI to help people visually reconstruct memories lost through migration, conflict, or time. Built around guided conversations, the project turns personal recollections into emotionally resonant images while addressing cultural and historical bias through close collaboration with local communities. By focusing on identity, healing, and connection, Synthetic Memories shows how AI can preserve stories at risk of disappearing—and support both cultural memory and therapeutic work.
#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #GenerativeAI