Karen Palmer is the Storyteller from the Future, an award winning XR creator and futurist who explores the societal implications of A.I and technology and impact of in-equality.

She does this by enabling participants to experience the future today through her immersive experiences, which watch you back using artificial intelligence and facial recognition technologies.

In 2023 Karen won the coveted XR Experience Competition at SXSW 2023 with her film Consensus Gentium. The narrative branches in real time depending upon the participants eye gaze and emotions. Enabling participants to simultaneously experience AI bias, surveillance technologies and their potential integration into the everyday world around us and how that could impact societal structures, human rights and civil liberties. This immersive experience is designed to drive discussion about data privacy, unconscious biases and the power of technology.

Consensus Gentium has traveled to CHPDox in Copenhagen, London Roundhouse, London Film Festival , the Kaohsiung Film Festival Taiwan, Silbersalz Festival Germany, Geneva International Film Festival (GIFF), Munich Film Festival, and Ars Electronica in Austria to name a few.

There have been numerous interviews and articles on her work from Channel 4 News, BBC News, CBS News and press in Wired Magazine, Forbes, PC Mag, CBS TV , Fast Company , Engadget,The Guardian “ It leapfrogs over VR”..
Karen is a TED Speaker and been described as a Thought Leader in A.I, Immersive Storytelling for Impact, Futurism and Tech. Keynote speaker at AT&T Shape Conference, L.A, Wired for Wonder Festival Australia, Sydney & Melbourne, MIT and TEDx Australia Speaker at the Sydney Opera House. Delivered keynotes and workshops to corporate clients and Leadership Summits include Microsoft Seattle, Vertex Berlin, ThoughtWorks Toronto and Google Cultural Institute in Paris.
She has exhibited at The Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum NYC, the V&A London, PHI Centre Montreal, Sensory Stories Exhibition, Armoury Arts Week NYC, Museum of Modern Art Peru, International Film and Storytelling events include the SXSW, ARS Electronica, The V&A, the Netherlands Film Festival to the Future of Storytelling in NYC. She has worked closely with prestigious organizations such as the British Councils in Canada, Western Balkans, South Africa and Peru. Invited to speak, ZKM Living Amongst Intelligent Machines AI Conference in Germany. CPH:DOX, Art, Technology & Change etc.
2020 she received Honorary Mention for the STARTS Prize ARS Electronica for her A.I. experience Perception iO, the future of law enforcement. This is A.I. Law enforcement training simulation which will watch you back. Perception iO will enable participants to experience how easily human bias can be intergraded into networks by humans and therefore understand the necessity for Transparency and Regulation in AI.
In 2017 her installation RIOT was acknowledged as one of the Digital Dozen Award for break throughs in storytelling. RIOT makes the player aware of their subconscious behaviour and enables them to consciously build new neurological pathways in their brain. Her work is at the intersection of Neuroscience, Behavioural Psychology and the Parkour philosophy of moving through fear.
She has been a research based artist working with Artificial Intelligence since 2015. Her Hack the Future Labs created 2020 are Think & Action Tanks at the intersection of Art, Film, Neuroscience Technology, Activism, Social Justice, Spirituality and the Parkour Philosophy of moving through fear. Creating interdisciplinary conversation and discussions to enable explorations of solutions for urgent issues impacting this rapidly changing society.