The Call for Session Proposals is open through December 16 and we’re looking for participatory, accessible, and inclusive virtual session ideas to bring MozFest to life! Learn more about the Call for Proposals process.

In 2023, MozFest is harnessing our collective power to better our digital landscape, build transformative systems, and sustain momentum within our community towards positive human and digital rights progress. It is through the collective power of the people that we can actualize Trustworthy AI.

We’re focusing our conversations on four central issues: bias, transparency, data stewardship, and movement building. With these at the core, we’re rallying under eight Spaces and Experiences.

2023 MozFest Spaces

Think of Spaces at MozFest as mini-festivals. Within each Space, participants can find everything they need: interactive, community-led sessions, inspiring talks, art installations, lots of coffee, and community. Click on any of the space titles to begin your proposal in that space.

Autonomy & Governance

AI is morphing into a monster, taking hostage users’ privacy and power, and shedding good faith systems of transparency and awareness. It’s time we combine super powers and become our own heroes!

How can we create a safe boundary between power holders and common individuals who are fighting over data in AI? Can we convert this challenge into an opportunity and create a comfortable environment for users to safely share data for the development of technology? At MozFest 2023, we will answer these questions and focus on diverting the flow of power away from the AI monster, and back into the hands of the people.

Education & Access: You're The Product Of Data

Congratulations! You are the product of data.

Does this surprise you? The fact is, if you're not paying for the product, then you ARE the product. Consumer data holds enormous value for organizations and the lack of awareness regarding data literacy is frightening. It’s time to raise global, multi-generational awareness and take control of our data!

Humans Behind The Machine

Self-driving cars, deepfakes, TikTok recommendations — why are they black boxes? Is it just algorithms that are opaque, or is it made opaque so it appears to be autonomous ‘magic’? Who are the humans behind the machines and below the algorithms, and what are their labor conditions?

As AI permeates our everyday lives, it’s important to consider the people behind it. Just as we want to know where our food comes from, farm-to-fork, it’s important to understand the origins of the AI that impacts our lives. At MozFest 2023, we will uncover the many roles people play in the AI machine and discover just how automated AI really is.

Radical Inclusion Experience

Can the internet and AI be shaped to accommodate the diversity of humanity?

No two human beings are alike. We have different abilities, think in singular ways, speak many languages, and belong to communities with unique cultural, societal, and economic value systems. Unfortunately, public conversations about the internet and AI fall short of embracing our differences and frequently leave those most impacted by its harms out of the discussion. It’s time for these ever-present technologies to become participatory, accessible, and empathetic. At MozFest 2023, let’s design a better human-machine collaboration that allows us to fully embrace the things that make us human.

Tech & Biodiversity: Legado 2060

HELP WANTED! We’re writing a digital ecosystem telenovela (soap opera/K-drama/dizi/teleserye) and need your help to inspire, write, act, and direct the narrative of sustainable digital futures. Together at MozFest 2023, we will craft an epic story that saves our environment from destruction and writes the happily ever after love story between tech, humans, and biodiversity that we all long for.

How can the digital ecosystem be the answer to our sustainable and biodiverse legacy? It’s up to us to make the right choices now in order to avoid catastrophic consequences in the future.

Utility of Transparency

What you don’t know CAN hurt you.

As AI systems grow in complexity and use in society, we know less and less about how they actually work. AI systems that drive everyday interactions and decisions are not always auditable and understandable — even by those who develop the technology. The result: systems that often commit and perpetuate harms, with little insight into how it technically happens.

We want that to change. Join forces with us at MozFest to build tech and systems that promote responsible and informative transparency, and tackle questions such as: How can transparency lead to accountability? What do users, researchers, regulators, and platforms need to effectively interrogate AI systems? And what can we learn from existing cultures of transparency, like open source?

Youth Zone

ALL ABOARD! Everyone is invited onboard the S.S. MozFest as we sail on the sea we call the internet. No hand is too small to learn how to navigate the open waters of our digital world and create the ripples that will grow into waves of change for future generations. Whether it’s your maiden voyage or your 100th, all voices are important as we chart our course through our digital world, together.

The question is…where should your journey start?

MoZone

Do you dream about a better, more humane digital world?

If you’re anything like us at Mozilla, you’re eager to make even the smallest of dreams become reality. Unfortunately, the nightmares that plague us are real, and big, and can’t be shaken alone. There are biases embedded in the data sets that train AI, opacity that makes it impossible to hold its creators accountable, and extractive practices that feed surveillance capitalism, undermine workers, and keep us from controlling our own data.

The MoZone Space brings together people and projects connected to the wide constellation of Mozilla’s work, with a focus on Trustworthy AI. As Mozilla celebrates 25 years of building a better internet, join staff, fellows, alumni, and partners as we imagine the next quarter century together.

Together, we can protect our communities from the harm AI is causing, and build tech that will put humanity and public good at the forefront to effect positive change. We will cross-pollinate our work and movements, collaborate toward collective action, and imagine new realities!

Early Bird Tickets Go On Sale in December

Are you excited to attend MozFest Virtual in 2023? Sign up for our newsletter to be the first to know when early bird tickets go on sale in December.