Dr. Julia Schneider | Doc J Snyder – Complexity Consulting & Comic Essays

Dr. Julia Schneider | Doc J Snyder

Complexity Consulting & Comic Essays
Understanding & Communicating Complex Systems: AI · Economics · Policy · Science

Contact: hello@docjsnyder.net
Newsletter: docjsnyder.net/newsletter
Insta: @docjsnyder | LinkedIn: Dr. Julia Schneider

Spoiler: I didn’t draw my best works; in fact, I might be worse at it than you are. Grounded in labor and innovation economics, AI, and policy consulting, I explore complex systems from multiple perspectives (and I can teach you how). My goal is to make complexity discussable and actionable — and beautiful— without reducing it.

I like to address questions such as why „We Need to Talk, AI“; how and why economic, technological, legal, and social systems work and where they could be improved; how knowledge and resources can be shared more democratically; or how people can deal with uncertainty around technologies and change.

Working independently as well as in collaboration with artists, researchers, companies, and institutions, I condense deep research, economic structures, or technological-societal transitions into different formats:

>> Comic Essays & Exhibits: Visual and spatial formats for synthesizing complexity

>> Keynotes & Talks: Presentations on AI, complexity, and comic essays as epistemic tools

>> Complexity Consulting & Workshops: Strategic sessions on science and complexity communication

My first major publication, We Need to Talk, AI (2019, with Lena Ziyal), marked the beginning of a growing body of comic essays ranging from short interventions to book-length projects, which you can find below. These works have found their way into various European media, museums, and festivals—including ZDF, ARTE, FAZ, and Süddeutsche Zeitung—with exhibitions at venues such as Futurium, Deutsches Museum Bonn, Deutsches Technikmuseum, Zeppelin Museum, and ZKM.

In 2024, I co-curated AI, What’s Up?, an ongoing traveling exhibition on artificial intelligence at European science centers, touring from Universum Bremen through Estonia and France before concluding in Heilbronn in 2029. Additionally, I serve as an expert reviewer and advisor on technological-societal transitions—including AI and its impact on culture and the social fabric—for foundations and federal ministries.

Trivia: My pseudonym Doc J Snyder is also an homage to the legendary character Doc Snyder, coined by the German comedy maestro and musician Helge Schneider.

Current Projects

>> AI & Machine Learning: “A Story Requires the Telling.” How Narratives Shape Perspectives on AI (Eine Geschichte setzt das Erzählen voraus – Wie Erzählungen Perspektiven auf künstliche Intelligenz formen, Interview with Philine Janus, Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb), July 2026, 9 min read, in German)

>> Mutterkorn, or: Beyond Donald. Comic Essays as Epistemic Tools in Research and Science Communication (2026, 11 p., in English)

>> Jenseits von Klischees: Der Deutsche Alterssurvey (DEAS), with Pauline Cremer and Deutsches Zentrum für Altersfragen (Beyond clichés: The German Age Survey (DEAS), 2026, 1p., in German)

>> Die Job-Shift-Map: Welche Arbeit ersetzt Künstliche Intelligenz wirklich? (The Job Shift Map: What type of work does artificial intelligence really replace?, Comic Essay and Analysis, 2026, 12 p., in English and German, published on 1E9 magazine), with an accompanying interactive „AI Job Shift Map Quiz“, coded by Klaas Bollhöfer

>> Harriet Taylor Mill, with Zoe Branczyk and Harriet Taylor Mill-Institut of HWR Berlin (2026, 1p., in German)

>> Proof of Work – How to Build on Every Talent (in the Labor Market). A Comic Essay, with Miriam Beblo and Zoe Branczyk (English release in 2025, German release in November 2026, as part of Berlin Science Week, 64 p.)

>> Männergesundheit. Ein Comic Essay (Men’s health, December 2025, 15 p., in German)

>> AI 20207? A Comic Companion Piece (2025, 12 p., in English, published on 1E9 magazine) — a visual response to the AI 2027 scenario by Daniel Kokotajlo & AI Futures Project (ai-2027.com)

>> Lynch, Kafka, die IBB und ich (Lynch, Kafka, the IBB and I – A Personal Comic Essay Account). A humorous yet critical take on bureaucratic challenges, inspired not only by Lynch and Kafka, but also by my personal experience with the IBB (Investitionsbank Berlin, Berlin’s investment bank) (2025, 10 p., in German). The comic was even shared by the Berlin Police and Citizen’s Representative’s official page – one of my best landing pages so far, according to independent voices.

>> Klimawandel und Strafrecht: Wer wird eigentlich bestraft? (Climate Change and Criminal Law: Who is Actually Punished?, with Maren Burkhardt (2025, 2 p., in German)

>> AI, What’s Up? (KI, was geht?), co-curation and content for an exhibition about AI, in cooperation with Science Center Universum Bremen: wall comics for the Blackbox AI, and comic films to think about AI in the Thinktank, with Archimedes Agency (2024-2029, in German, English and French, other partners: experimenta, Heilbronn, AHHAA, Tartu, Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace, Le Bourget)

Other works

Book-length comic essays

>> Schokoroboter und Deepfakes -‒ Ein Comic-Essay über Künstliche Intelligenz aus der Perspektive von Jugendlichen (Chocolate Robots and Deepfakes ‒ A Comic Essay on Artificial Intelligence from the Perspective of Teenagers) with Nele Konopka and Kristina Laube in cooperation with the Tübingen AI Center and the Bundeswettbewerb Künstliche Intelligenz (2022, 80 p., in German, also available for purchase as a print edition)

>> The Non-Fungible Comic -‒ A Comic Essay about Non-Fungible Tokens, with Noëlle Kröger (2022, 56 p., in English and German, also available for purchase as a print edition)

>> Money Matters -‒ A Comic Essay about Money, with Pauline Cremer and Miriam Beblo (2021, 164 p., in German, also available for purchase as a print edition)

>> “We Need to Talk, AI” – A Comic Essay on Artificial Intelligence, with Lena Kadriye Ziyal (2019, 56 pp., in English, German (“AI, We Need to Talk – A Comic Essay on Artificial Intelligence”), Turkish, Spanish, Russian, Slovenian, Azerbaijani, and Czech; also available as a print edition and as an open online course)

>> The Corona Scribbles, a Comic Column about Life in times of Corona, on 1E9 magazine (April 2020-May 2023, 31 episodes, in German)

Shorter comic essays

>> KI nachhaltig entwickeln? Seegurke sucht Seegraswiese (Developing AI Sustainably? Sea Cucumber Seeks Seagrass), with Pauline Cremer, Marcus Voß and KI-Ideenwerkstatt für Umweltschutz (2024, 4 p., in German, also as Giant Exhibit in the rooms of KI-Ideenwerkstatt and as a folding poster, funded by the Federal Environment Ministry)

>> Altern, or: One day, baby, we’ll be old (Ageing, or: One day, baby, we’ll be old), with Pauline Cremer and in cooperation with Deutsches Zentrum für Altersfragen (DZA) (2024, 3 p., in German)

>> Absurdität für Deutschland—Ein Comic Essay (2024, 7 p., in German) & Absurdity for Germany (2024, 7 p., in English)

>> Oldies for Future, with Pauline Cremer and in cooperation with Deutsches Zentrum für Altersfragen (DZA) (2024, 1 p., in German)

>> A Pigeon’s Tale -‒ A Comic Essay on Artificial Intelligence and Sustainability, with Pauline Cremer, in cooperation with Marcus Voß and Birds on Mars (2023, 12 p., in English and German, also available for purchase as a German print edition)

>>Coworker or Overlord? -‒ A Comic Essay about ChatGPT+, with dall-e-2 and ChatGPT (2023, 2 p., in English)

>> The Big Third and the Blockchain -‒ A Comic Essay, with dall e-2, inspired by Ka trin Becker (2022, 12 p., in English), release 2023, on 1E9

>> Overcoming the Flaschenhals -‒ Ein Comic-Essay zu neuen Computing-Konzepten (Overcoming the Bottleneck ‒ A Comic Essay on New Computing Concepts) with Noëlle Kröger in cooperation with the German Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation (2023, 3 p., in German)

>> AI in a Biased World, comic essay and artistic research project for the South African University of Stellenbosch’s Journal HERRI, Special Theme AI in Africa, illustrated by an AI to use the BIAS inherent in the algorithm, curated by Vulane Mthembu (2023, 1 p., in English)

>> Urheberrechte, oder: On the Shoulders of Giants – A Comic Essay about Copyright, with Karina Filusch, Eric Eitel and Nele Konopka (2022, 3 p., in German)

>> #teilenstattsplitten ‒- ein Comic über das Ehegattensplitting (a Comic Essay about German Tax Splitting for Spouses), with Pauline Cremer, Miriam Beblo, Jutta Allmendinger, Janina Kugel and Monika Schnitzer, in cooperation with the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (2021, 3 p., in German)

>> Abtreibung -‒ ein Comic Essay, with Maren Burkhardt (2020, 2 p., in German)

On this subpage, you’ll find three of my most important comic essays in German.

Other projects

>> ChatGPT Bullshit Bingo on LinkedIn (2024, 1p., in English)

>> AI 🐂💩 Bingo ‒- A playful intervention for panels, keynotes and workshops on Artificial Intelligence, with Katrin Fritsch and Theresa Reimann-Dubbers (2022, 4 variations of cards, in English)

Exhibitions: Apart from co-curating the traveling exhibition „AI, whats up?“, our comics have been part of some beautiful exhibitions, including: Futurium Berlin; Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen; Deutsches Museum Bonn; ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe; Long Night of Science in Dresden and Berlin; I AM A.I. Exhibition.

Selected Media