Alexander Reben

Alexander Reben is an American artist, researcher, and roboticist whose work explores the intersection of art, technology, and human experience. Beginning his career at MIT Media Lab, Reben has studied human-robot symbiosis and art, using experimentation and prototyping to examine relationships with algorithms, automation, and amplification. His projects often use elements of absurdity, humor, and play to engage the public with complex ideas in technology, highlighting the ongoing connection between humans and technological advancement.

During his time at MIT Media Lab, Reben designed Boxie, a social robot and autonomous filmmaker that specialized in interviewing people. Boxie served as inspiration for the character Baymax in Disney's "Big Hero 6." This project also led to the creation of BlabDroid Inc., a company focused on designing social robots that interact with people globally and create documentaries from interviews. BlabDroids recorded interviews at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and Tribeca Film Festival, bringing Reben's work to international attention. He has also developed robots for NASA.

Reben is among the first artists to produce AI oil paintings, contributing to the field of AI-generated art. As OpenAI's first artist in residence, he gained early access to the Sora text-to-video tool, which generates videos from written or spoken prompts. Reben utilized Nvidia's neural radiance field technology to convert Sora's AI-generated imagery into 3-D models. His body of work includes artworks based on AI-generated wall card descriptions, sculptures inspired by artist-authored manifestos, and bronze and marble sculptures fabricated from images created by DALL-E.

Reben's work has been exhibited at Vitra Design Museum, MAK Museum Vienna, Design Museum Ghent, Vienna Biennale, ARS Electronica, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, Tribeca Film Festival, TFI Interactive, Camden Film Festivals, Doc/Fest, and Boston Cyberarts Gallery. His work is part of the permanent collection at MIT Museum. Media coverage includes CNN, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Washington Post, Fast Company, Filmmaker Magazine, New Scientist, BBC, PBS, Discovery Channel, and WIRED. Reben is a WIRED Innovation Fellow, a Stochastic Labs Resident, and a visiting scholar in the UC Berkeley psychology department.

Reben has lectured on creativity and technology at TED, SXSW, TTI Vanguard, Google, UC Berkeley, SMFA, CCA, MIT, and other universities. He has also spoken at TED Women and Aspen Ideas Festival. Reben founded Phyzify, an AI company that develops tools for rapid prototyping of physical objects, continuing his work at the intersection of advanced technology and creative experimentation.