November 4th: Lisbon AI Salon event - The Future Is Remixable: Hot Takes on AI, Creativity and Society
This AI salon event felt more like a living conversation than a formal panel. We held it at AI Hub during Lisbon AI Week, with a mix of founders, artists, researchers, and students joining in. We had a really fun panel:
Moderator:
Michael Fiorentino — Founder of Ambistream, building infrastructure for AI-era media attribution and automated creator payments.
Panelists:
Mariana Montenegro— Head of AIhub at Unicorn Factory Lisboa, connecting startups and corporates in applied AI.
Nick Sarafa— Educator and engineer, building accessible AI learning for students worldwide.
Bengisu Bikem — Web3 and neurotech researcher exploring consciousness and decentralized systems.
Nuno Moreno - Embedded in Portugal's startup ecosystem, building programs and forging partnerships. He is representing the "everyday man" the "Zé-povinho"
They challenged each other about whether AI should be trusted, whether creativity still means anything when a machine can mimic it, and how much control humans should keep. The tone drifted between curious, skeptical, and poetic. What made it different was that it never turned into a tech pitch or a lecture. It felt more like a late-night café in Lisbon, where every voice in the room mattered and everyone left still thinking about what it means to stay human while building the future.
See our panel discussion
Event Pics
Original Event Description
Throughout history, the best ideas emerged when artists sat with scientists, when poets debated with engineers, when different worlds collided in the same room. Think of the Parisian cafés where surrealists and mathematicians argued over coffee, or the Portuguese literary salons where writers and philosophers shaped cultural movements. We're creating that kind of space for the AI age in Lisbon.
This event was inspired by our AI Week NY Bohemian AI salon which brought a mix of builders, artists, philosophers, and skeptics into the same room to debate AI's future. We filmed hot takes, projected AI-generated video art, and proved that the best ideas emerge when diverse perspectives collide. Watch the recap here and the original event page here.
What to Expect
This is a short panel followed by open dialogue, hot takes, and on-camera reflections. We're gathering:
Creators sharing what AI means for their craft
Students challenging assumptions about the future of work
Tech builders defending or questioning what they're shipping
Web3 enthusiasts debating decentralization, ownership, and control
Skeptics pushing back on the hype
As a participant we encourage you to meet other people, share your perspective, film a hot take, and debate someone you disagree with (politely).
The Questions We're Wrestling With
Is AI a tool for liberation or a new form of control?
What happens to creativity when machines can generate anything?
Who gets to decide how AI shapes culture?
Can we build ethical AI when "ethics" means different things to different people?
How do we preserve human agency in systems designed to predict us?
Who Should Come
You, if you're:
Building with AI and questioning your choices
Creating art and wondering what comes next
Thinking about decentralized futures and fairness
Studying these shifts and craving real-world dialogue
Simply curious, opinionated, and ready to engage
Come ready to listen as much as speak. And bring your hot takes!
About the Hosts
Ambistream is a social TV platform building AI-native media infrastructure where creators get paid fairly, content is remixable and traceable, and privacy is baked in from the start.
AI Hub by Unicorn Factory Lisboa is a physical and virtual hub dedicated to accelerating artificial intelligence adoption and innovation in Portugal. Launched in partnership with Microsoft, Accenture, and Avanade, the facility provides an ecosystem for startups, public and private companies, and researchers to collaborate on AI solutions, fostering sustainable growth through digital innovation.
Lisbon AI Week is an event series dedicated to all aspects of artificial intelligence. It brings together entrepreneurs, researchers, developers, and enthusiasts for conferences, workshops, and discussions on the latest AI innovations and applications.