THE MINISTRY OF STEAMPUNK
ABOUT THE MINISTRY
The Beginnings
In the early years of steampunk, people were clamouring for events to attend and so the forerunner of the MoS (called the Victorian Steampunk Society at the time) was set up to create events for the community.
The idea was simple. If active steampunks organise events then other steampunks could attend them if they wanted to. If this comes from within the community then we all support each other.
As steampunk grew and the interests and enthusiasms of the community broadened, the time came when it seemed right to drop the 'Victorian' in the name, and hence the Ministry of Steampunk (MoS) was formed and took its place.
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The Present
The MoS today comprises a small core team who dream up events but who also collaborate with external parties to try and put on the very best steampunk events that we can. To the best of our ability we try to ensure that all of our events have a unique character - hence the suite of events that we are currently working on and will be promoting over the coming year.
We strive to listen to the steampunk community and are always pleased to receive feedback on what we do, however we are fully aware that we cannot please all of the people all of the time.
Our over-arching philosophy is simple. We try to...
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Listen to what people are asking for.
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Set up events which people may want to attend.
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Run them to the best of our ability, and
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Try to raise money for charitable causes if we can.
Because the core team of the MoS is so small we depend very much on the steampunk community to help us develop ideas, to run features at our events and to encourage others to get involved - whether they are a band that steampunks might like to listen to, or a steampunk trader, or a crazy enthusiast who has an idea which could develop into something incredible.
This website includes a number of 'getting involved' forms. We look forward to continuing to receive your most excellent suggestions that we can hopefully program into one of our forthcoming events. Please consider getting involved yourself, either by volunteering to help at one of our events, by suggesting an event feature that we can help you to run or by persuading bands or traders to contact us.
The MoS and Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human learning, comprehension, problem solving, decision making, creativity and autonomy.
Many familiar programmes and services already use AI to provide personalised experiences, including digital assistants (Siri, Alexa), search engines (Google and others), social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube), navigation apps (Google Maps, Uber), streaming services (Netflix, Spotify) and online shopping (such as Amazon). Banking and financial services use AI for fraud detection, credit scoring and cybersecurity. AI is also used in industry, power grids, farming, climate modelling, disaster prediction and many other services and processes which affect all of us.
In 2026 when AI is discussed in the context of Steampunk events, people are usually focusing on a particular kind of AI called generative AI (GenAI) which is a technology that can create text, images, videos and other content from a text prompt.
The nature of human behaviour is such that people do not all agree on what they should eat or what they should believe. Similarly, people vary in their opinions of GenAI. There are arguments for and against the use of GenAI.
This is not the place for us to repeat the arguments ‘for’ or ‘against’ GenAI because many of the arguments on both sides are well known. The purpose of this document is to set out the current position of the Ministry of Steampunk on the matter, since whatever we think about the subject, it seems extremely unlikely that GenAI or any other future forms of AI are going to disappear in the foreseeable future. Indeed, the AI Revolution may turn out to exceed or even surpass the Industrial Revolution.
To return to the analogy with food and religion, whilst some people hold very strong views which they believe everybody else should also follow, society works best when people accept that there is room for a range of opinions, that other people also have valid views, and we can still live together in harmony.
GenAI is relevant to the Ministry of Steampunk in four main ways:-
1. Facebook posts and the MoS website
Pictures form an important part of our communications on both platforms. To date the majority of pictures used have been photographs taken at our events or simple graphics created on a PC. Some elements of AI are used in photographic image processing – for example removing a person from a photograph uses AI.
At Asylum XV we deliberately used GenAI images to promote our first cyberpunk night. We wanted ‘the machines’ to have a ‘voice’ as this was highly relevant to the cyberpunk genre. Cyberpunk and AI are inextricably linked with the seminal work 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' and Bladerunner was entirely based on the concept of AI.
It is our strong impression that GenAI is used extensively on some other Steampunk websites. We do not seek to rely heavily on GenAI in the foreseeable future, but at the same time do not take the view that GenAI content should be entirely excluded from our Facebook and website output.
2. MoS events
MoS events are live 'in person' events and are unlikely to include very much in the way of GenAI content although at Asylum XV we explicitly showed a GenAI film and held a discussion around the subject. We may include similar features in the future.
It is important that the community has an opportunity to discuss the subject, but we hold that no one outside of the MoS has the right to dictate what we do or do not include in our events.
3. MoS markets
Democratisation of creativity as a concept is central to our organisation and our approach to steampunk as a whole. We carefully curate our markets with this in mind. Our principal aim is to offer a first-class selection of steampunk items rather than a market dominated by 'things steampunks might like' (food and drink offerings being a natural exception).
We have championed and supported artists and artisan makers for many years. We have prioritised makers who have brought their own unique products, and we have offered a mixture of free and subsidised opportunities for traditional artists.
We know of a small number of organisations who have chosen a complete ban on GenAI products at their events. We have thought about this very carefully. As event organisers we cannot micro-manage what our traders display or sell and we do not believe that imposing an absolute ban on GenAI is a practical proposition at this time, however we draw the attention of our traders and their potential customers to the following:
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We will continue to support traditional artists.
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We will continue to prioritise traders who make their own products.
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We will continue to favour steampunk products over products that may be attractive in their own right, but have little connection to the steampunk aesthetic.
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We do not actively encourage the selling of GenAI products.
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Traders at MoS events should be happy to discuss the extent to which they have used AI in any product they have for sale. The choice of whether or not to buy from traders who carry GenAI goods is then properly a matter for the individual.
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Whilst we all benefit from having a vibrant market at MoS events, trading is not a right.
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We receive a large number of trading applications, the majority of which we have to turn down, but we will continue to support and encourage existing and new traders who score highly on the points listed above.
4. Our personal work and projects
We see the selective use of GenAI as a potentially beneficial tool when used sparingly amongst all of the other creative tools at our disposal. Modern materials and processes such as 3D printing have already had a major impact on steampunk work over the last two decades and it would be foolish to think this will not continue.
Commercial realities
We have never used GenAI to take the place of a human maker/creator/performer. We exist to celebrate creativity. We will not use GenAI where we would have paid an individual artist previously. AI is a tool. People will use it. Wherever we can we will always champion the human over the machine.
This statement has been prepared collectively by the core team who dream up, organise and run MoS events, who are responsible for the MoS website and who write the majority of the information posts on our Facebook pages. It will be updated from time to time as seems appropriate as this rapidly evolving field develops.