Creative technologists from diverse disciplines come together to decode their unique approaches, explore exciting projects, and the future of creative tech in two 15-minute sessions, concluding with an open Q & A.
Aura
Hyper-personalization experiences in the age of AI.
‘What it is’ and ‘What it does’
Aura is an experimental web experience that reimagines the potential of AI-driven
hyper-personalization by turning everyday data into an intimate visual narrative. By connecting to a user’s Google Calendar (with permission), Aura generates a mystical “digital aura” that reflects patterns in the user’s schedule—is the user a social butterfly with back-to-back meetings, or a reflective loner with open stretches of time?
Aura transforms mundane metadata such as meeting density, time-of-day habits, and weekly rhythms into visual expressions that feel alive, unique, and deeply personal.
Unlike traditional personalization, which simply recommends content or products, Aura externalises data in a way that lets users see themselves through the lens of AI.
The experience tailors colors and motion of the visuals to a user’s mood and energy, derived from their calendar structure. A quiet week might manifest as soft, flowing tones and warm gradients, while a jam-packed Monday could erupt in vibrant visuals. In this way Aura creates a reflective loop where users can watch their aura shift as they adjust their schedules, making the experience participatory and empowering.
Purpose:
This project is my way of reimagining hyper-personalization, which goes beyond marketing to craft unique, meaningful experiences rooted in individual data.
By blending analytics, generative AI, and creative coding, Aura makes abstract algorithms tangible and visceral. It invites users to engage with their own data in a way that is playful, thoughtful, and completely their own, proving that hyper-personalization isn’t just about knowing users - it’s about letting them co-create and shape the narrative.
Creative Strategies for Culturally Aware AI
Moving Beyond the Bias
Context:
Generative AI is transforming creative practice. From image and video generation to interactive design, tools open-up new possibilities for artists, designers, technologists and developers. They allow us to imagine, prototype, and realize ideas that were previously out of reach, enabling more people to participate in creative production than ever before.
The challenge:
As the reach of this technology grows, it becomes increasingly important to use the tools it provides responsibly.
Because of a historic disparity in internet access and technology, the Global South arrived later to the online game and, since then, it has contributed far less to the massive datasets that now feed modern GenAI models.
Less presence means the stories, faces, people, languages, and places from some countries are effectively “filtered out”. There are underrepresented groups and distorted, stereotyped representations in the outputs of many databases. This is especially visible in image and video generation tools that perpetuate the biased gaze of the Global North.
What we are doing to redress the bias:
Curating culturally specific data from countries otherwise overlooked.
Training local models
- Crafting meaningful art that challenges dominant narratives.