ATmosphere Conf 2026: the internet built for people, not platforms

Last week I flew to Vancouver for ATmosphere Conf, the second edition of the worldwide AT Protocol community conference. Four days. 370 people on-site, around 500 more online. All working on one question: what does the internet look like when it's built for people, not platforms? The energy was the highlight The biggest thing for me wasn't a specific talk or launch. It was the energy in the rooms and in hallway conversations. Collaborative, positive, and genuinely optimistic about the future of the internet in a way I haven't experienced in the open source/tech industry in probably 10+ years. The participant mix was interesting too. Older folks (like me) who remember the openness and promises of the early internet in the 90s, alongside a younger generation that's fed up with Big Tech treating them as data to monetize instead of people to serve. Both groups showing up for the same reason. The synergy was amazing. Talk highlights Jay Graber and Paul Frazee launched Attie, an AI assistant that lets you build your own algorithms and custom feeds on Bluesky. You can even change the Bluesky interface if you want to (for example, hide handles). The key line from Jay: "AI should serve people, not platforms." Alex Komoroske and Mike Masnick did a fireside chat on Resonant Computing, a manifesto for software that adapts to you instead of optimizing for engagement metrics. Five principles: private, dedicated, plural, adaptable, prosocial. They sound obvious until you realize almost nothing we use today meets them. Dietrich Ayala's reality check on the ecosystem: incredible energy and talent, but fragile funding. No magical investor money, thin grant options, founders who sometimes deliberately reject venture capital. His question: can we build sustainable businesses where people just pay for things they use? Why that last point matters to me I'm now building on the AT Protocol too: Barazo is a federated forum (think Discourse, but your members' data lives on their own Personal Data Server and their identity is portable across apps). I wrote more about the architecture and motivation in a previous post. Sifa (already at 250 users) is a professional network where your reputation comes from actual community contributions, not self-reported endorsements. And without the performative stuff we see on LinkedIn. The sustainability question Dietrich raised applies directly. These are open source tools for communities, not VC-backed growth plays. They need real business models. IETF makes it official One more thing: the IETF just approved a formal AT Protocol working group to turn this into a proper internet standard. That's a significant step for the protocol's long-term credibility and stability. Thanks to the organizers Big thanks to Boris Mann, Ted Hann, Chad Kohalyk, and all the volunteers who made this happen. Running a 370-person, 4-day conference with this level of energy and organization is no small feat. Back to the backlog So now I'm home, and my backlog of ideas and community integrations got considerably longer. That's the best kind of conference outcome.