Since 2012, I've created a series of simulations that explore an agent’s capacity to deal with an ever-changing environment. These works culminated in the Emissaries trilogy, which introduced a narrative agent - the emissary - whose motivation to enact a story was set into conflict with the open-ended chaos of the simulation. In 2019, I developed BOB (Bag of Beliefs), a AI-driven creature whose personality, body, and life script evolve across exhibitions. Most recently, I directed Life After BOB, a 50min real-time anime built in the Unity game engine. I am the author of Emissary's Guide To Worlding, a book exploring the psychology and techniques of creating living autonomous worlds.
In 2015, I founded Metis Suns, a production company dedicated to Worlding and worlding literacy.
In 2024, I founded Opponent Systems, a new company building animal-level AI playmates for kids and families.
MMCA ~ What An Artificial World ~ CheongJu ~ OPEN NOW thru 2024-08-25
Okayama Art Summit ~ The Parks of Aomame ~ Okayama ~ OPENING 2025-09-26
2022 Spike Art Magazine, Empathy is an Open Circuit: An Interview with Ian Cheng with Ido Nahari
2022 Right Click Save, Can AI unlock the Unconscious? with Ann Marie Alanes
2022 Studio International, What’s the worst possible dad I could be? with Emily Spicer
2022 032c, A Great Anomic Era: Ian Cheng with Henry Levinson
2022 Elephant Art, How the Ideas of Eric Berne Shaped My AI Creations with Ravi Ghosh
2021 Art and Obsolescence, Episode 006: Ian Cheng with Ben Fino-Raden