On 10 April 2026, Waag Futurelab organised its annual lecture The State of the Internet, featuring Fieke Jansen, co-founder of the critical infrastructure lab of the University of Amsterdam.
This year, Fieke Jansen took us beyond the hype(rscale). She looked at what lies behind our screens: what impact the growing appetite for data centres and AI computing power has on our living environment, and what the consequences for people and planet. The possibilities of AI seem limitless, but our planet's natural resources are finite.
The lecture was followed by two panel discussions. In the first panel, we discussed regenerative tech with artist Nestor Siré and Waag's Judith Veenkamp. In the second panel, we explored the networks of power that hide behind the AI interfaces with Roel Dobbe, Assistant Professor at Delft University of Technology, and Swaan Dekkers, Innovation Lead for AI at the City of Amsterdam.
Video of The State of the Internet 2026
Photos of The State of the Internet 2026
About Fieke Jansen
Fieke Jansen is co-principal researcher at the critical infrastructure lab at the University of Amsterdam and co-lead of the Green Screen Coalition. Jansen investigates how the infrastructure of our digital world, data centres and AI influence the environment, raw material use and climate.
