AI takes center stage in Japanese-British artist Hiromi Ozaki’s bold new work, “Tech Bro Debates Humanity #2.” Better known as Sputniko!, Ozaki created six AI-generated avatars that do something both absurd and unsettling. They argue about the future of humanity with cold, calculated precision.
These are modeled after white male “tech bros,” trained on the public philosophies of real-life tech giants like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel.
Each avatar speaks with Ozaki’s face and voice, re-coded into the image of tech power. It is satire, creepy, and strangely accurate. Watching them, you get the sense that this is what a digital boardroom might sound like when no one is holding back or considering ethics.
@5putniko / Instagram / The debates are scripted by AI, and they hit hard. One avatar shrugs off democracy as outdated, saying control now lies in the hands of those who write the algorithms.
Another one questions the point of free will at all. The tone? Chilly indifference. These voices don’t sound curious or hopeful. They sound convinced, like the future is already written in code, and humanity is just data.
However, Ozaki doesn’t hold back. This work is a sharp jab at the tech world’s sameness: A sea of powerful men, usually white, shaping global systems without including everyone at the table. By using her own face but morphing it into that stereotype, she forces the audience to see how narrow this influence really is.
Ozaki’s background is steeped in tech. She studied math, built machines, and taught at MIT’s Media Lab. She used to believe in the power of innovation, but after years inside, she stepped out. Now, she sees AI as something that often makes inequality worse and spreads misinformation faster than the truth.
That is what gives this installation its bite!
The piece landed just as America braced for the 2024 election and Elon Musk was named head of the bizarrely real Department of Government Efficiency (yes, DOGE). The timing made the whole thing feel too close to real life. Like maybe the line between fiction and reality is already gone.
The younger generation gets it. They are tired. Tired of hustle culture, endless updates, and apps that track every breath. This installation taps into that fatigue. It reflects a quiet rebellion happening now.
@5putniko / Instagram / Despite her skepticism, Ozaki isn’t anti-tech. She is trying to use it better. She co-founded Cradle, a healthcare startup aimed at improving employee wellness inside corporations.
“Tech Bro Debates Humanity #2” is just one part of a bigger show called “Can I Believe in a Fortunate Tomorrow?” That title hits hard, too. The exhibition asks if all this efficiency and prediction is stripping the world of what makes it human: surprise, joy, and randomness.
Other pieces in the show lean into that theme. One uses drones to find four-leaf clovers. Another simulates rare natural events like rainbow clouds. The point? If AI can find the rarest things instantly, do they still feel rare? Does meaning survive when magic becomes a button you can push?
“I started out hating capitalism,” she admits, “but I decided to understand it, hack it, use it as a tool for social change.”
That kind of clarity makes her voice different from the usual critiques. She understands how powerful these systems are and how easily they go unchecked.
The art world has taken notice. The installation launched in Tokyo in 2024 and is heading to Austria’s Ars Electronica Festival in September 2025, then to Brooklyn College’s Art Gallery for a three-month run. It is pulling global attention not just for its visuals, but for its message.