I'm a software developer, designer, teacher and author.
I founded and directed the Machine Intelligence Design groups at NVIDIA and Adobe.
I was also the Vice President of Research & Development at Stability AI.
My work focuses on the emerging intersections between machine learning, design tools, programming languages and operating systems. I have also studied computer graphics, aesthetic philosophy, art and film. I come from a family of progressive educators who have greatly influenced my thinking about intelligence and toolmaking.
An interview with Shervin Khodabandeh and Sam Ransbotham on AI tool development.
Presented by MIT Sloan Management Review's Me, Myself, and AI podcast, 2024.
A talk investigating the implications of a new creative force that is not constrained by tradition or historical progress.
Presented at the KRIGA International Symposium, 2022.
An interview from Helen Armstrong's Big Data, Big Design: Why Designers Should Care About Artificial Intelligence on the role of AI in human-led creative processes.
Published by Princeton Architectural Press, 2021.
A talk that explores AI-First product development and the role of design
in shaping emerging technologies.
Presented as the inaugural event for DeepLearning.ai's AI Access series, 2021.
An interview with Elvia Wilk for Noema Magazine about Adobe Machine Intelligence Design and the future of artificial intelligence in creative tools.
Published by Noema Magazine, 2020.
An article investigating the role of education and culture in the creation of intelligence.
Presented at the DAI Conference (Video) and published by DAI Digital, 2020.
An article investigating how software development tools can better accommodate the experiential nature of both human and machine learners.
Presented at the Google PAIR UX Symposium (Video)
and published by Towards Data Science, 2018.
An interview with Bill Reeve about the democratization of AI.
Published by Accelerate with Google, 2020.
An article investigating how machine learning and artificial intelligence will bring about a new generation of design tools that learn from and adapt to the user's way of thinking.
Presented at the O'Reilly Design Conference and published by Google AMI, 2017.
A monograph that introduces contemporary machine learning systems and provides a conceptual framework to help designers integrate machine learning into their work.
Published by O'Reilly Media, 2016.
A webcast exploring how machine learning will transform the next generation of computing interfaces.
Published by O'Reilly Media, 2016.
A philosophical exploration of machine learning and concept representation in the human mind.
Presented at Entertaining Science, 2016.
A series of principles to guide the design of design tools.
Published on Medium, 2016.
An excerpt from Helen Armstrong's Big Data, Big Design.
Published by AIGA, 2021.
An article by Olivia Goldhill on the connection between machine learning and Wittgenstein’s theory of language.
Published by Quartz, 2019.
An article by Kathleen M. O'Donnell investigating AI's impact on architectural practice.
Published by American Institute of Architects, 2018.
A course introducing machine learning techniques, their underlying theory and relevance to creative applications.
Interactive Telecommunications Program, NYU.
Fall 2015, 2016, 2017.
A course dedicated to researching and developing new production tools for digital media.
Taught with Rune Madsen.
Interactive Telecommunications Program, NYU.
Spring 2017.
A course focused on software-based toolmaking as an artistic practice in its own right.
Interactive Telecommunications Program, NYU.
Spring 2015, 2016.
A course on graphics programming techniques and their place in art and film history.
Interactive Telecommunications Program, NYU.
Fall 2012, 2014.
A course on genetic algorithms and self-organizing systems from the perspectives of software architecture and user-interface design.
Interactive Telecommunications Program, NYU.
Fall 2013.
A two-day workshop exploring the use of technology in elementary classrooms.
Art of Teaching Program, Sarah Lawrence College.
Spring 2015, 2016, 2017.
Neural Filters is a new workspace inside Photoshop that introduces non-destructive filters powered by artificial intelligence to help you explore creative ideas in seconds.
A design and programming environment that aims to extend the creative reach of its user through the assistive capacities of machine learning.
A sample of my work from ages five to thirteen. Focused primarily on virtual reality.
A visual essay about computer graphics, design tools and representation in general.
Presented at Interactive Telecommunications Program, NYU, Fall 2012.
A study of digital design tools and a retrospective of my early work on the Foil Design Environment.
Master's Thesis, Interactive Telecommunications Program, NYU, May 2011.
Precursor to work on Foil.
Presented at Interactive Telecommunications Program, NYU, February 2011.
Early sketches for a design tool incorporating genetic algorithms and self-organizing maps. Precursor to work on Foil.
Presented at Interactive Telecommunications Program, NYU, December 2010.
An investigation of physics, computational models and the limits of photographic representation.
Unpublished, December 2008.
A critical look at the vicarious (dis)pleasures of a toy turned blockbuster.
Published in Film Comment Magazine, January-February 2008.
A semiological study of digital special effects as an artistic medium.
Undergraduate Thesis, Department of Philosophy, Bard College, May 2006.
An investigation of the spatial and temporal depiction of explosions in avant-garde cinema and sculpture.
Published in Bard College Journal of the Moving Image, May 2005.
An interview with the sculptor Heide Fasnacht.
Published in Bard College Journal of the Moving Image, May 2005.
A steroscopic narrative in forced-perspective. Presented in side-by-side stereo.
An anaglyph stereo version is also available. Created at NYU/ITP. 2010.
Action sequence as landscape film.
Shot on 16mm Kodak color negative film at Innisfree Garden, Millbrook, New York. 2005.
Experiments for Peter Hutton's Cinematography class.
Shot on 16mm color negative, b&w negative and b&w reversal film in Tivoli, New York. 2005.
My very first special effects film.
Made with footage from Jean Luc Godard's "Made in U.S.A." 2004.
Alibaba U Design Week Keynote Address - Remote
Transformations of the Human (ToftH) Guest Lecture - Remote
Autodesk Research Connections Invited Talk - Remote
Nike Sport + AI Conference Keynote Address - Remote
Korean National Research Institute for the Gifted in Arts (KRIGA) International Symposium - Remote
HAW Hamburg aiXdesign Series - Remote
Deeplearning.ai AI Access Series - Remote
Proximity Lab Discussion Series - Remote
with Sarah Kong, Nathan Carr, Wilson Chan & Evan Karatzas
European Union National Institutes for Culture DX/AI Week - Remote
with Clara Blume, Martin Rauchbauer & Tobias Rees
Designing with Artificial Intelligence Conference - Berlin, Germany (Remote)
Forrester CX Conference - San Francisco, CA
with Andrew Hogan
School of Visual Arts, Masters in Interaction Design Lecture Series - New York, NY
Berggruen Institute, Transformations of the Human Program - Los Angeles, CA
Adobe MAX Conference - Los Angeles, CA
Designing with AI Meetup - New York, NY
with Mathew Ray & Allison Parrish
Adobe Design Summit - San Francisco, CA
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology - Daejeon, Republic of Korea
Google PAIR UX Symposium - Zürich, Switzerland
American Institute of Architects - Washington, DC
O'Reilly Artificial Intelligence Conference - New York, NY
O'Reilly Design Conference - San Francisco, CA
Entertaining Science @ Cornelia Street Cafe - New York, NY
with Stephon Alexander & Saint Clair Cemin
Foo Camp, O'Reilly Media - Sebastopol, CA
with Rune Madsen
Art of Teaching Graduate Program, Sarah Lawrence College - Bronxville, NY
IBM Research - Yorktown Heights, NY
Interactive Telecommunications Program, New York University - New York, NY
I'm always interested in hearing about new opportunities, collaborations and lecture invitations.
Please reach out through one of the channels below: