CAMEO.NAME

C:\CAMEO> override --status

OVERRIDE

Immersive experiences about AI risk. Four pieces, one question: who still decides?

Now running Paper playtests of The Control Room · demos of Mirror Feed · ask for a slot

00 The risk is a quiet handoff

  1. We automate one decision at a time.
  2. The manual knowledge quietly disappears.
  3. One day, no one can take the wheel back.

Many researchers worry less about a robot uprising than about this slow loss of human understanding and control. It has happened before: the US nuclear program once lost the ability to make a material called Fogbank. The process was never fully written down, the people who knew it had moved on, and rebuilding that knowledge took years.

Lost knowledge rarely announces itself. You can't lecture people into feeling that. You can let them live it, and catch the moment they stop deciding for themselves, and then take it back.

01 The suite 4 experiences

01 · Group game · Playtesting

The Control Room

A small group runs a simulated town's water, power, food, and news. Automating a system saves time and wins points. It also means shredding the manual.

Inspired by Brenda Romero's Train. Scripts written; paper prototype ready to play. Planned at 8–12 players, about 75 minutes.

04 · One-on-one by phone · Demo available

Mirror Feed

A private phone experience that follows where your attention goes, then shows you how it was steered.

About 20 minutes, one person at a time. You agree up front that the piece may steer you; nothing personal is kept afterward; you can hang up and leave at any moment.

02 · Puzzle · In development

The Assistant

Solve a run of puzzles with a helper whose suggestions are almost always right.

Over-trust in helpful systems is the most everyday version of the handoff. The question in the room: who still checks?

03 · Ceremony · In development

The Ritual of Refusal

Participants name the decisions they will never hand to a machine, then witness one another's commitments.

Drawn from humanist celebrant practice and end-of-life planning tools like Five Wishes. Name, witness, carry: everyone leaves with their commitment in hand.

02 How we build

  1. No real AI. Theatre, game design, and ritual create the feel of automation.
  2. Safety over comfort. We disclose the minimum you need to stay safe, not everything that might happen. You can name a limit or step out at any moment.
  3. Implicate, not humiliate. Players recognize their own choices. No one is tricked or shamed.
  4. End in agency. Every piece closes with a practice, a decision, or a question to carry home.
  5. Accurate, not cinematic. The risks on stage are the ones researchers actually worry about. Research advisors wanted.

03 Built to travel

04 Experience it

Take the wheel.

Want to play The Control Room, take the Mirror Feed call, or bring Override to your museum, company, festival, or funding program? Tell me who you are, where you are, and what you're curious about.

cameo [at] charmingstranger [dot] com

Playtest The Control Room Book a Mirror Feed demo Partner, fund, or advise

Co-creators

  • Designers, writers, performers, and technologists to build the pieces.

Venues & funders

  • Hosts for playtests and runs; grant makers and commissioners.

Research advisors

  • AI safety researchers to keep every scenario accurate.