Jarno
Alastalo

True Stories for the Bookshelf

Jarno Alastalo’s works explore social phenomena through social media, unusual human stories, and the darker sides of the internet.

The Black Box

Musta laatikko, 2026

Strange People

Oudot tyypit, 2020

The Dark Net

Pimeä netti, 2017

Stories from Social Media

Sometarinoita Suomesta, 2015

As a Speaker

The oldest written story in the world begins with a king who cuts down a forest for his own name. He is warned, and he decides alone. Now forests are cut down to make way for data centres. In Jarno’s talks, AI is neither magic nor doomsday. It is decisions that someone makes, and the question is who makes them. What for? is too important a question to leave to kings.

Jarno’s talks are visual and game-like, and they are built from stories. They contain research and real people, and sometimes the Jarno speaking on the screen is not Jarno. He has spoken to staff of Finland’s largest companies, to government ministries, to upper secondary students and in Mikkeli Prison.

• The Beginning of the Age of AI-Mindlessness

  AI is not magic – but it makes us believe it is. The talk looks at AI from a human point of view: how algorithms decide what we see, how AI changes what we hold to be true, what remains of our digital footprint, what in the hype is true and what is kept quiet. Either we become the foolish users of smart machines, or we learn to use them wisely.

• How to Keep Your Own Thinking in the Age of AI?

  When AI writes the email, summarises the meeting and suggests the next word, the resistance of thinking disappears point by point. The talk goes through what AI is and what it is not, what it does to our thinking and what in our work is so human that it is not worth handing over to a machine. Finally, we consider why and how AI is worth using.

• Algorithms as Black Boxes

  What happens when decisions are made by systems whose logic we cannot see or understand? Based on The Black Box (2026), this talk takes audiences deep into the invisible mechanisms of algorithms: how they shape everyday life, culture, and society – and who benefits from them.

• AI, Identity and Communities

  When the machine acts as a mirror, it does not reflect truth but selected, distorted versions of ourselves. How do identities created online meet real life? Why doesn’t social media remove loneliness – and how might digital communities truly support us?

• Youth and AI

  Young people are the first generation for whom AI has been part of daily life from birth. Algorithms recommend content, suggest words, and decide who is visible to whom. Through practical examples and young people’s own experiences, this talk dismantles myths and explores what kind of literacy is needed to understand AI – and what remains essentially human.

• Deepfakes, Scams and the Dark Side of the Net

  A voice, a face and a video can now be made of anyone. In the talk, the Jarno speaking on the screen is not Jarno. Through the stories of the book Pimeä netti (The Dark Net), we look at how scams have changed now that machines have learned to talk like people – and how to recognise when a picture or a voice is not telling the truth.

• What Does a Prompt Cost?

  How much water does AI use? Nobody knows exactly, and the numbers make young people feel guilty, as if the problem were their own use. The big decisions are made elsewhere. The talk gives those who work with young people three tools: ask why the young person asks. Zoom out: what is this for, who pays and who decides? And ask for another way, from the people who decide. When the ozone layer was in danger, the world did not give up fridges. It changed the gas, together.

• AI Through an Artist’s Eyes

  What does AI mean for creativity, copyright and keeping your own voice? The talk looks at AI from the maker’s point of view, not merely as technology. What is the difference between the various programs, and how can AI be used in your own work safely and ecologically? In English for the creative industries: The Last Human Thing.

• Where Is AI Taking NGOs and Working Life?

  Automation pushes the routines through, but who can afford genuine human presence? The talk looks at the coming years of NGOs and workplaces: what AI does to funding and impact, who gets a human, and how cooperation, shared platforms and small language models can be the solution.

• Digital Oligarchs and the Concentration of Power

  A handful of tech companies now hold the power to define what we see and feel. How does this change democracy, values, and the future? And what alternatives do we have to build a different digital culture?

• AI, Ethics and Humanity

  Machines make mistakes, but they do not understand them. They feed us cognitive sugar and learn our weaknesses before we even recognize them ourselves. What ethical questions does this raise in education, decision-making, and everyday life?

Working with Young People

My specialty is speaking to educators, youth workers, and teachers about how AI and algorithms shape young people’s everyday lives, identities, and agency. My talks combine research, young people’s perspectives, and practical examples that provide tools for understanding machine logic and supporting critical thinking in the AI era.

For nearly a decade I have collaborated with the Centre of Expertise for Digital Youth Work (Verke) and numerous other organizations as an external expert and producer in projects, trainings, and content creation. This experience has deepened my perspective on how AI and digital culture affect young people’s worlds – and how professionals can respond to these changes.

Media Highlights

Jarno Alastalo’s work and ideas have been widely featured in both international and Finnish media:

• Vogue Italia

  Helping Networks (2016)

  Profile on Jarno Alastalo and the Heimo community platform.

• Helsingin Sanomat

  “Even introverts dare to open up online”

  Coverage of online communities and the Heimo platform.

• Yle

  Finnish Broadcasting Company

  Multiple features on Radio Suomi, Aamu-TV, and Juuso Pekkinen program on the dark web and digital culture.

• MTV News

  The Tor network, the dark web and Vastaamo

  Expert commentary on the Tor network, the dark web, and the Vastaamo data breach.

• Kirkko ja Kaupunki

  Digital culture, empathy and online communities

  Interviews on digital culture, empathy, and online communities.

  
• Iisalmen Sanomat

  Mobile dependency and the need for connection

  Article on mobile dependency and the enduring human need for connection.

• Radio Rock

  Korporaatio Morning Show

  Interview on Jarno’s book Strange People (Oudot tyypit).