All posts by Robert

Paper in ACM PACMGIT

My SIGGRAPH paper, “Communing with Creative AI” was published in the Proceedings of the ACM on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques. Download it here:

Twomey, R., “Communing with Creative AI”, SIGGRAPH 2023 Art Papers, Proceedings of the ACM on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques — Volume 6, Issue 2, August 2023. Article No.: 28, pp 1-7 https://doi.org/10.1145/3597633

Robert Desnos photographed by Man Ray (source)

SS4ES @ Water for Food Global Conference

Ash Smith, Elsbeth Magelton, Yufeng Gu, Santosh Pitla, and I conducted a collaborative scenario planning workshop, Simulation and Speculation for Earthly Survival with participants in the 2023 Water for Food Global Conference hosted by the Daugherty Institute.

Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z56_YNQ6ceU

Read more about the conference here: https://waterforfood.nebraska.edu/explore-our-conferences/2023-water-for-food-global-conference

MAT Spring Seminar Series

I’m excited to present at the UCSB Media Art and Technology (MAT) Seminar Series on May 1st:

Communion and Cohabitation

Recent advances in generative and perceptive AI have radically expanded the breadth, scope, and sophistication of human-machine interactions. Whether through creative co-production, confessional communion, or quantified selves under machine observation—we have invited ML systems to participate in our innermost spaces. In this talk I discuss my research into machine cohabitation, exploring the ways that we share space with these technological others. Spanning smart environments, robotic automation, data science, and real-time performance, my projects explore emergent technological possibilities while centering human dynamics of the interactions. Are these acts of high tech ventriloquism, psychological self-stimulation, mediumistic extensions of a creative unconscious, or collaborations with computational others? However we decide these questions of autonomy and agency, the value of these systems lie in what they reveal about human imagination and desire.

May 1, 1-2pm PDT. Zoom Link: https://ucsb.zoom.us/j/9314307354

MAT Seminar Web Page https://seminar.mat.ucsb.edu/

Chatting GPT at HDSI

I’m delighted to speak about GPT, LLMs, and Generative AI at this event on April 19th at the Hal?c?o?lu Data Science Institute and San Diego Supercomputer Center.

My panel, “Implications for Healthcare, Business, Research, and Art” starts at 10:55 PDT/12:55 CDT and is available online and in person.

The schedule and link to register is here: https://www.sdsc.edu/event_items/202304-ChatGPT.html

Halicioglu Data Science Institute // San Diego Supercomputer Center

AI and Creative Filmmaking Hackathon

UPDATE here are the films from the Hackathon: https://vimeo.com/showcase/10352314

This past Saturday we hosted an AI + Creative Filmmaking Design Hackathon at the Johnny Carson Center, co-organized with Ash Eliza Smith, Dan Novy, and the students of Cinema 16. It was a phenomenal success. I’m so impressed with what our students and community can do in a mere 9 hours from prompt to film.

We had Rowena Pedrena, Gus Hurwitz, Mel Plaut, Ha Na Lee, and Robert Tercek as guest judges.

Thank you Johnny Carson Center for EMA and Nebraska Governance and Technology Center for making it possible. Special thanks to Sean Strough and Tripp.

More info here: https://sites.google.com/view/ai-for-filmmaking/home?authuser=0 (films will post soon)

Edgerton Junior Faculty Award at UNL

I’m honored to have received the 2023 Harold & Esther Edgerton Jr. Faculty Award at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for outstanding junior faculty members who show creative research, extraordinary teaching abilities & academic promise.

Thank you Johnny Carson Center for EMA + Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film colleagues for the nomination!

https://news.unl.edu/newsrooms/today/article/faculty-and-staff-honors-announced-by-the-executive-vice-chancellor-s-1/