This KT4D result is a gamified tool designed to address the social and cultural implications of AI development, specifically targeting software developers in academic and industrial settings. It builds upon principles of design justice and AI ethics to foster inclusivity, mitigate exploitation, and enhance democratic values in software design.
We titled this Interactive Digital Narrative Red Team Mission: The Incident at Pine Valley High to clearly communicate the genre of the experience to players. “Red teaming” denotes a goal-oriented, adversarial exercise in which participants investigate an organisation’s systems, processes, and assumptions to identify weaknesses and mitigate potential harm. This type of exercise is commonly used within technology companies: drawing on a familiar professional practice was intended to lower the entry barrier for participants and facilitate engagement with the scenario.
Pine Valley High is the fictional secondary school for which the AI-supported system has been designed and deployed. While the name has an unmistakably North American tone, it was deliberately selected for its neutrality and lack of specific geographical markers, allowing the scenario to remain culturally recognisable without being anchored to a particular national context.
The tool is presented as an artefact produced by a fictional technology company, NexusDigital, in order to preserve narrative credibility and avoid priming players’ interpretations. For the same reason, the visual design is intentionally restrained and unbranded. The interface adopts a minimal, user-friendly structure combined with a retro-inspired aesthetic. This choice reinforces the impression of an internal corporate tool while maintaining accessibility and clarity.
Overall, the interactive digital narrative places participants in a professional role of AI Safety expert, immersing them in a socio-technical crisis that cannot be resolved through technical reasoning alone. Its structure, components, and interaction flow are deliberately aligned with the project’s commitment to cultural awareness, narrative agency, and a third-wave approach to AI ethics.
