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I have spent the last decade building AI systems that are meant to enable new forms of storytelling. In recent years I have been making tools to help designers shape these kinds of experiences without writing code. And increasingly I am interested in applications that will make the world an easier place.
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As of summer 2025, I’m available for consulting and contract projects, and I’m also keen to discuss prospects for interesting full-time work.
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Most recently, I was Head of AI at mPath, a startup building tools for overwhelm support. This followed two years as Narrative Systems Lead at Hexagram, where I built systems combining LLMs with symbolic AI in the entertainment domain. Before that, I was Visiting Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Carleton College, the perennial #1 school in undergraduate teaching in the US. My first industry job was as Principal Investigator at the storied research firm BBN, where I led an effort to combat email scammers with conversational AI.
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I earned a PhD in Computational Media from UC Santa Cruz in 2018. My thesis, Curating Simulated Storyworlds, is about detecting stories that emerge in complex systems like computer simulations—a task I called story sifting. I have also carried out research in conversational AI, discovery tools, and the history of computational media. My 50+ academic publications are all available here.
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Past projects include: Bad News, a work of AI-assisted immersive theater that won the IndieCade 2016 Audience Choice Award; Sheldon County, a proof-of-concept AI-generated podcast that was featured on BBC Radio; and Sienna, a chatbot that engages email scammers to waste their time. My work has been written up in The Guardian, The Verge, The Register, Vice, New Scientist, and Rolling Stone. And it has angered Donald Trump.
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I’m also the proprietor of Aleator Press, an indie press and art dealer specializing in computer-generated literature and early generative art. Our highlight release is Wendit Tnce Inf, a letterpress book of computer-generated prose poems by Allison Parrish. As a dealer, we have handled early pieces by artists such as Harold Cohen.
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I live in Minneapolis with my wife, Nina, and our two kids.
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Want to get in touch? Feel free to send an email!
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