Review of "Exploring metaphors of AI: visualisations, narratives and perception"

From 10th to 12th September 2025, Barcelona hosted an academic gathering at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya: the first Hype Studies Conference, titled "(Don't) Believe the Hype!?" Organised by a transnational, collective research group of scholars and practitioners, the conference drew together researchers, activists, artists, journalists, and technology professionals to examine hype as a significant force shaping contemporary society. Hype Studies is an emerging academic field that analyses how and why excessive expectations form around technologies, ideas, or phenomena, and what effects those expectations have on society, culture, economics, and policy. As the playful brackets around "Don't" in the conference title suggest - both a warning and an invitation to question that warning - the aim of the conference wasn't to simply reject hype, but to understand it. The conference approached hype critically by examining it as a phenomenon with real power and consequences that needs to be understood and questioned. The purpose here was to build collective knowledge about hype, develop better and more concrete theories, share empirical findings, and create an interdisciplinary community whilst advancing the field's scholarship and knowledge.