Another, more contested route to encountering rivers as living entities is through AI. The technology seems at odds with ecological life – it consumes energy, water and minerals, and reduces complexity to data and simple answers. Relational thinker Vanessa Andreotti asks if AI could work differently. With Danilo Olivaz, an AI engineer and bioregional educator in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, she is testing a relational AI system. Their ‘river avatar’ combines bio-sensor readings with local stories and continuous observations of the river. Rather than giving the river a human voice, they are testing if AI can change how people encounter the river as a living, interconnected system. Emergence supports Danilo testing the avatar with river communities and bioregional governance groups.