https://www.crosslabs.orgAn AI research lab in Kyoto, Japan, working to bridge the divide between intelligence science and AI technology at the service of human society.Mon, 12 Jan 2026 06:46:37 GMT60Webflowhttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/ramps-and-ratchets-a-new-paperhttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/ramps-and-ratchets-a-new-paperIn a few days, I’ll be visiting Kyoto to attend the 2025 ALife conference! I couldn’t be more excited for the trip, especially since my wife gets to come along. “ALife” is short for “Artificial Life,” and it encompasses all sorts of research into “life as it might be.” Mostly, this means lifelike computer simulations that help us better understand what life actually is, but part of the fun is there’s a great deal of interpretation, creativity, and art mixed in with the science.Sat, 10 Jan 2026 23:20:38 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/summer-school-as-it-could-behttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/summer-school-as-it-could-beCross Labs (Inaugural) Alife Summer School (CLASS) introduces secondary school students, children, and lifelong learners to the nascent field of Alife.Mon, 15 Dec 2025 07:34:09 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/ai-to-ai-communication-unpacking-gibberlink-secrecy-and-new-ai-communication-channelshttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/ai-to-ai-communication-unpacking-gibberlink-secrecy-and-new-ai-communication-channelsAI communication channels may represent the next major technological leap, driving more efficient interaction between agents—artificial or not. While recent projects like Gibberlink demonstrate AI optimizing exchanges beyond the constraints of human language, fears of hidden AI languages must be correctly debunked. The real challenge is balancing efficiency with transparency, ensuring AI serves as a bridge—not a barrier—in both machine and human-AI communication.Wed, 23 Jul 2025 08:51:21 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/the-age-of-information-overloadhttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/the-age-of-information-overloadWe live in a time of information abundance. It has become as plentiful—and as carefully engineered to exploit our every weakness—as modern processed food. The more content is optimized to manipulate our attention, the more our cognitive patterns are hijacked. Digital platforms are not only distracting; they reshape what we pay attention to and how we think.Wed, 23 Jul 2025 08:51:21 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/life-after-programming-embracing-human-machine-symbiosis-in-the-age-of-aihttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/life-after-programming-embracing-human-machine-symbiosis-in-the-age-of-aiAs AI continues to evolve, conversations have started questioning the future of traditional programming and computer science education.Sat, 10 May 2025 01:27:45 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/the-innovation-algorithm-deepseek-japan-and-how-constraints-drive-ai-breakthroughshttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/the-innovation-algorithm-deepseek-japan-and-how-constraints-drive-ai-breakthroughsIn technology, less can truly be more. Scarcity doesn’t strangle progress—it refines it. DeepSeek, cut off from high-end hardware, and Japan, facing a demographic reckoning, are proving that limitations don’t merely shape innovation—they accelerate it. From evolutionary biology to AI, history shows that the most profound breakthroughs don’t originate from excess, but from the pressure to rethink, reconfigure, and push beyond imposed limitations.Tue, 25 Feb 2025 13:24:56 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/limited-agi-the-hidden-constraints-of-intelligence-at-scalehttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/limited-agi-the-hidden-constraints-of-intelligence-at-scaleSam Altman has expressed confidence in the power of neural networks and their potential to achieve artificial general intelligence, while this sounds compelling, one must keep in mind how the concept of AGI and its application remains vague and problematic. Intelligence, much like compute, is inherently diverse and comes with a set of constraints, biases, and hidden costs.Sun, 26 Jan 2025 05:53:52 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/artificial-lifehttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/artificial-lifeAt a point in time when technology and biology appear to converge, can we decode the mysteries of life grounded in either realm, through the lens of science and philosophy?Sat, 04 Jan 2025 03:53:53 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/emotion-inducing-ai-generative-music-a-way-to-feel-however-you-wanthttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/emotion-inducing-ai-generative-music-a-way-to-feel-however-you-wantHi! I’m Chris, a 1st-year electrical and computer engineering student at the University of Texas at Austin interested in the applications of AI for neuroengineering and music. Through a study abroad program my university, I was able to do an internship this past summer at Cross Labs, getting an introduction to the fields of AI and neuroengineering. Sat, 04 Jan 2025 03:53:53 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/from-aristotle-to-genetic-algorithms-how-i-learned-neural-networks-in-one-summerhttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/from-aristotle-to-genetic-algorithms-how-i-learned-neural-networks-in-one-summerIn this blog, I write about how I traveled to Japan with minimal AI experience, and left coding my own neural networks (NNs). This is the story of why I ventured to the opposite side of the world, and the steps I took to learn AI architecture.Sat, 04 Jan 2025 03:53:53 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/swarm-reservoirshttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/swarm-reservoirsRecently, we have begun work to study swarms and swarm behavior as a potential substrate for reservoir computing. They are dynamic and self-organizing in interesting ways, and the idea of collective computation is an appealing one. In particular we will consider boid flocks, which are known for coordinated movements with emergent form. We hope that they can capture temporal patterns as well.Tue, 12 Nov 2024 04:02:12 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/subjective-open-endednesshttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/subjective-open-endednessWhat is it about living physical matter (as opposed to non-living) that “compels” it to evolve into a seemingly endless supply of seen and unseen species?Tue, 12 Nov 2024 04:02:12 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/olaf-witkowski-spoke-with-lionbridge-about-complexity-in-living-systems-and-the-limitations-of-deep-learninghttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/olaf-witkowski-spoke-with-lionbridge-about-complexity-in-living-systems-and-the-limitations-of-deep-learningSun, 29 Sep 2024 00:49:01 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/ghosts-in-a-shellhttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/ghosts-in-a-shellHave you ever wondered what reality is like from a non-human perspective? As in, what is it like to see the sunset as a cat? Is my red the same as your red? And so on.Sat, 21 Sep 2024 03:42:11 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/aizuchi-bot-creators-win-honorable-mention-at-chi-2024https://www.crosslabs.org/blog/aizuchi-bot-creators-win-honorable-mention-at-chi-2024A huge congratulations to Kazumi Yoshimura, Dominique Chen, and Olaf Witkowski for winning Honorable Mention at SIGCHI's CHI 2024 conference!Mon, 05 Aug 2024 12:20:49 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/universal-communicationhttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/universal-communicationHow might we allow communication between any agents over any medium?Mon, 22 Apr 2024 23:17:42 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/active-inference-and-subjective-open-endednesshttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/active-inference-and-subjective-open-endednessHow is it that, even when faced with something we have yet to study in detail, we can still judge whether it is worth studying further?Sun, 28 Jan 2024 07:37:13 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/clipdraw-exploring-text-to-drawing-synthesishttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/clipdraw-exploring-text-to-drawing-synthesisThis work presents CLIPDraw, an algorithm that synthesizes novel drawings based on natural language input. CLIPDraw does not require any training; rather a pre-trained CLIP language-image encoder is used as a metric for maximizing similarity between the given description and a generated drawing.Sun, 28 Jan 2024 07:37:13 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/harmony-of-mind-and-machinehttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/harmony-of-mind-and-machineUnderstanding human perception of control and ownership in brain-computer interface experiments using a haptic touch pen.Sat, 20 Jan 2024 02:02:49 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/ai-driven-meditation-personalization-for-inner-peacehttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/ai-driven-meditation-personalization-for-inner-peaceDespite meditation's many benefits for the mind and body, it is only practiced by a small portion of people across the world. Can AI change this?Wed, 27 Dec 2023 02:21:01 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/human-collaborative-ai-in-harmony-with-social-values-pioneering-industry-5-0https://www.crosslabs.org/blog/human-collaborative-ai-in-harmony-with-social-values-pioneering-industry-5-0Tue, 12 Dec 2023 12:06:49 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/perceptual-crossing-experiment-in-3dhttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/perceptual-crossing-experiment-in-3dPerpetual Crossing Experiments (PCEs) are an attempt to investigate online situations where two people engage in real-time interaction, but how might adding additional dimensions lead to advancements in building more human-like AI?Sun, 26 Nov 2023 08:50:39 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/unlocking-the-power-of-multiple-language-models-a-dive-into-collaborative-aihttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/unlocking-the-power-of-multiple-language-models-a-dive-into-collaborative-aiHow might LLMs work together to overcome inaccurate information, limited context and memory, and limits of computational power?Sat, 11 Nov 2023 04:40:37 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/translating-natural-language-models-for-robots-using-llmshttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/translating-natural-language-models-for-robots-using-llmsImplementing a way for robots to smoothly integrate human instructions on a large scale.Wed, 08 Nov 2023 22:20:42 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/machine-love-and-human-flourishing-a-recaphttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/machine-love-and-human-flourishing-a-recapCurrent Machine Learning systems rely on simplistic models of human behavior, but what if we optimized for deeper models of human flourishing: care, responsibility, respect and knowledge rather than engagement with technology?Mon, 06 Nov 2023 12:11:06 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/emotion-driven-ai-music-generation-a-pathway-to-personalized-sonic-experienceshttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/emotion-driven-ai-music-generation-a-pathway-to-personalized-sonic-experiencesHow might AI generated create immersive and personalized music therapy, storytelling, and cultural preservation experiences?Thu, 26 Oct 2023 10:32:35 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/ai-guided-meditation-enhancing-mental-well-being-through-computer-science-and-technologyhttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/ai-guided-meditation-enhancing-mental-well-being-through-computer-science-and-technologyDespite meditation's many benefits for the mind and body, it is only practiced by a small portion of people across the world. Can AI change this?Wed, 04 Oct 2023 12:46:11 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/generative-models-arent-databaseshttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/generative-models-arent-databasesThere’s a key distinction between compressed files and compression algorithms.Mon, 18 Sep 2023 02:20:10 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/diffusion-with-offset-noisehttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/diffusion-with-offset-noiseFine-tuning against a modified noise, enables Stable Diffusion to generate very dark or light images easily.Mon, 18 Sep 2023 02:20:10 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/what-is-creativity-anywayshttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/what-is-creativity-anywaysWhen my family bought our first computer, my dad installed and toyed with a strange experimental program.Sat, 15 Apr 2023 02:16:08 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/is-ai-extending-the-mind-a-summaryhttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/is-ai-extending-the-mind-a-summaryCross Labs' Second Innovation Science Workshop focused on projects that explored how physical components interact to perform computations, understanding what intelligence is in terms of computation and cognition, and exploring the ethics of AI applications in the near and slightly-more-than-near future.Sat, 18 Feb 2023 00:47:04 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/what-ethics-for-artificial-beingshttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/what-ethics-for-artificial-beingsDo synthesized living systems deserve a moral consideration similar to that of non-human vertebrates – or even human beings?Sat, 20 Aug 2022 07:37:58 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/cross-labs-inaugural-innovation-science-workshophttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/cross-labs-inaugural-innovation-science-workshopCross Labs' First Innovation Science Workshop focused on Innovation Science, and explored themes of algorithmic approaches to open-ended creativity and discovery.Mon, 02 May 2022 11:35:06 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/lightweight-smart-monitoring-for-iot-deviceshttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/lightweight-smart-monitoring-for-iot-devicesA neural architecture optimization method specialized in edge computing for health monitoring and diagnosis.Sun, 24 Apr 2022 11:54:32 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/olaf-witkowski-talks-with-fqxi-about-possibilities-without-endhttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/olaf-witkowski-talks-with-fqxi-about-possibilities-without-endCross Labs' Director Olaf Witkowski recently chatted with FQXi's George Musser about making AI think laterally, better solving problems by not trying to solve them, and the secret of value of miscommunication.Mon, 21 Mar 2022 01:30:04 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/regenerating-soft-robots-through-neural-cellular-automatahttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/regenerating-soft-robots-through-neural-cellular-automataMorphological regeneration is an important property of biological systems that focuses on environmental adaptability. The lack of this regenerative capability places serious constraints on both the robustness of an artificial system and the environment in which it operates. To bridge this gap, we propose a simulated soft robot with regenerating morphology using neural cellular automata.Sat, 26 Feb 2022 07:56:52 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/a-new-kind-of-open-ended-environment-for-a-new-kind-of-artificial-intelligencehttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/a-new-kind-of-open-ended-environment-for-a-new-kind-of-artificial-intelligenceIf we are to develop artificial intelligence (AI) capable of learning as humans do, it needs to be tested in complex environments just like humans are.Mon, 05 Jul 2021 07:23:12 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/evolutionary-algorithms-and-open-ended-evolution-with-lisa-soroshttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/evolutionary-algorithms-and-open-ended-evolution-with-lisa-sorosMon, 05 Jul 2021 07:23:12 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/researcher-nicholas-guttenberg-co-authors-new-research-in-naturehttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/researcher-nicholas-guttenberg-co-authors-new-research-in-natureMachine learning has been used for the first time to visualize the fossil record, highlighting how evolution and extinction have had long-term impacts across the past 600 million years.Mon, 05 Jul 2021 07:23:12 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/uncovering-meta-learning-systems-that-learn-with-nicholas-guttenberghttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/uncovering-meta-learning-systems-that-learn-with-nicholas-guttenbergMon, 05 Jul 2021 07:23:12 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/templeton-world-charity-foundation-grant-to-study-buddhism-aihttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/templeton-world-charity-foundation-grant-to-study-buddhism-aiMon, 05 Jul 2021 07:23:12 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/task-representation-for-badgerhttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/task-representation-for-badgerHow to make an AI generalist out of a pool of expert AIs.Mon, 05 Jul 2021 07:23:12 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/alife-for-good-accepted-at-alife-2020https://www.crosslabs.org/blog/alife-for-good-accepted-at-alife-2020A workshop on how Artificial Life research can benefit all life on our planet!Mon, 05 Jul 2021 07:23:12 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/the-fake-life-recognition-contest-is-now-livehttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/the-fake-life-recognition-contest-is-now-liveCan a computer tell apart living from non-living things as well as we can?Mon, 05 Jul 2021 07:23:12 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/todai-student-examines-origin-of-mysterious-inca-knotted-codehttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/todai-student-examines-origin-of-mysterious-inca-knotted-codeThu, 08 Apr 2021 10:25:48 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/how-media-has-influenced-peoples-view-on-robotshttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/how-media-has-influenced-peoples-view-on-robotsInvestigating the Correlation between Robots with Different Body Proportions and Gender-Stereotypical LocationsThu, 08 Apr 2021 10:25:48 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/morphological-computation-and-control-with-prof-rudolf-marcel-fuchslinhttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/morphological-computation-and-control-with-prof-rudolf-marcel-fuchslin“If you take out the physics from all your computing method, you have to put it back as soon as you want to control some physical system”Wed, 24 Mar 2021 02:35:15 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/crosslabs-and-alife-2020https://www.crosslabs.org/blog/crosslabs-and-alife-2020We're excited to host 'ALIFE for Social and Environmental Good' and participate in 'Hybrid Life III: Approaches to integrate biological, artificial and cognitive systems (Hybrid Life III)'.Wed, 24 Mar 2021 01:34:24 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/hybrid-life-ii-at-alife-2019https://www.crosslabs.org/blog/hybrid-life-ii-at-alife-2019Approaches to integrate biological, artificial and cognitive systemsWed, 24 Mar 2021 01:34:24 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/talking-agi-with-prof-julian-togeliushttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/talking-agi-with-prof-julian-togeliusHow many angels can dance on the head of a pin? It's a "pointless and useless question that has no bearing on reality", claims Julian, "this is how superintelligence and AGI debates make me feel".Wed, 24 Mar 2021 01:30:04 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/call-for-papers-for-illusions-of-self-beyond-human-animal-and-robothttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/call-for-papers-for-illusions-of-self-beyond-human-animal-and-robotCSAS has been selected to run a special session on 'Illusions of Self: Beyond Human, Animal, and Robot' at the ALIFE conference and we're soliciting papers for the session.Fri, 12 Mar 2021 09:07:59 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/cross-subject-eeg-based-emotion-recognition-through-neural-networks-with-stratified-normalizationhttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/cross-subject-eeg-based-emotion-recognition-through-neural-networks-with-stratified-normalizationFri, 12 Mar 2021 09:07:59 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/illusion-theatre-derailing-the-sense-of-agencyhttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/illusion-theatre-derailing-the-sense-of-agencyUsing an interactive storytelling machine to deceive a user’s sense of agency.Fri, 12 Mar 2021 09:07:59 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/through-the-looking-glasshttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/through-the-looking-glassUsing AI and style transfer to immerse viewers inside a neural network.Fri, 12 Mar 2021 09:07:59 GMThttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/christin-puthur-tom-froese-are-our-fake-life-recognition-contest-winnershttps://www.crosslabs.org/blog/christin-puthur-tom-froese-are-our-fake-life-recognition-contest-winnersThe results are better than anything we could have imagined.Fri, 12 Mar 2021 09:07:59 GMT