On this episode Scott talks to Espen Aarseth, Dean of the School of Creative Media at City University of Hong Kong, about his groundbreaking work in game studies. 

In episode two of ALGOpod, Gabriele de Seta is joined by Guro Flinterud, a folklorist and cultural studies researcher, about her research on social media and digital platforms as an interface between the police and the public.

On this episode we talk about our upcoming exhibition "An Eye for AI Cinema" at the Bergen International Film Festival, running October 15th-23rd.

Is artificial intelligence destroying cinema as we know it? Are we entering the age of the computer-generated DIY film? AI brings tumultuous changes to the established film industry, at the same time as it is creating new opportunities for independent filmmakers, and perhaps even birthing new genres of moving image art. 

Works

Laurent Basset

AFFAIR IN MARSEILLE, 2025

Seif Abdalla

HANAA, 2025

Micol Hebron

Study of animals in motion in the style of Eadweard Muybridge, 2025

 Simon M. Valentine

One Last Wish, 2024

REDACTED

Optimals, 2025

Sachiko Hayashi, Nina Sobell

Echoes Unseen, 2024

Lina Ruth Harder & Colin Robinson

Wherever I go, you’re always with me, 2025

Scott Rettberg

Riverrun (fascistchic ascistquick), 2025

David Jhave Johnston

Brain-knot Altar, 2025

On this episode, author, data scientist, and journalist Yudhanjaya Wijeratne talks to Jill Walker Rettberg about his relationship with AI in producing his Salvage Crew Trilogy of novels. 

Yudhanjaya Wijeratne: “The Machine as Provocateur” Keynote at CDN Summer School 2025 -   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54ZdWvzk2JE

StarMap – galaxy generator code on GitHub: https://github.com/yudhanjaya/Starmap 

Find out more at Yudhanjaya.com 

Photo by Dirk Skiba Fotografie.

It’s been a while since the last AI update, and with the field evolving so quickly, Scott and Jhave have plenty to catch up on. In this episode, they explore AI and writing - but who is prompting whom? Can AI serve as “steroids for creativity”? And if so, what are the unintended side effects?

After our summer break, Off Center returns with episode 2 of season 4. This episode features an interview with Samya Brata Roy, recorded during the 2025 CDN Digital Narrative PhD Summer School. Samya discusses his academic journey and the founding of Electronic Literature India. 

In the first episode of ALGOpod, Gabriele de Seta is joined by Joan Mukogosi, where they talk about her essay "Strategic Knowledge. Teens use 'algorithmic folklore' to crack TikTok’s black box", which she co-authored with Ireti Akinrinade.

On the first episode of the new season, returning guest Gabriele de Seta joins Scott to talk about Algopod, the new series of podcast episodes that will be released as part of the new season of Off Center. We also hear some interviews that David and Benji, two middle school students who had their work week at the center, did with several people within the center's staff.

In the final AI Update of the season, Scott and Jhave talk about some of the ways in which AI is finding itself involved in research. They talk about some of the AI models that have been developed with research in mind as well as some of their own experiments with these models.

References:

Brain2Qwerty https://ai.meta.com/research/publications/brain-to-text-decoding-a-non-invasive-approach-via-typing/ Accessed March 11, 2025.

Claude https://claude.ai/ Accessed March 11, 2025.

Deep research. https://openai.com/index/introducing-deep-research/ Accessed March 11, 2025.

Eliot, George. 1879. “Impressions of Theophrastus Such” William Blackwood and Sons.

Perplexity deep research https://www.perplexity.ai/?model_id=deep_research Accessed March 11, 2025.

Rettberg, Scott. 2020. “Republicans In Love” https://eloconference2023exhibitions.wordpress.com/exhibition2_resistance/republicans-in-love/

On this episode Scott joins David Bithell overseas, at Southern Oregon University's Digital Media Center. They talk about digital performance, collaborative online music and digital puppetry.

References:

Bithell, David. Followers. 2017. http://www.davidbithell.com/followers.html

Bithell, David. Matters Dark and Luminous. 2023-Present. http://www.davidbithell.com/mattersdarkandluminous.htmlBithell, David. Subterranean. 2020. http://www.davidbithell.com/subterranean.html

Bithell, David. Windward. 2018. http://www.davidbithell.com/windward.html

In this week's AI Update, Scott and Jhave discuss some of the ways in which fascism reproduces itself, how AI could be used as a tool to facilitate it, and how those leading AI development have found themselves in positions of political power.

References:

Knausgård, Karl Ove. My Struggle. 2009-2011.

Watkins, Gareth. AI: The New Aesthetics of Fascism. 2025. New Socialist. https://newsocialist.org.uk/transmissions/ai-the-new-aesthetics-of-fascism/

In this episode, Scott travels to Australia to talk with Tama Leaver at the Center of Excellence for the Digital Child. They discuss Tama's involvement with the Center, his research regarding generative AI, the ways in which children interact with AI and how they can be affected by them, as well as a recent ban to social media for all children under 16 in Australia.

References

Haidt, Jonathan. The anxious generation: how the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness. 2024. New York, Penguin Press.

Leaver, Tama, and Suzanne Srdarov. 2025. "Generative AI and Children's Digital Futures: New Research Challenges." Journal of Children and Media. 19 (1): 65-70. doi:10.1080/17482798.2024.2438679.

Ritchie, Hannah. Australia approves social media ban on under-16s. BBC News, Sydney. November 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89vjj0lxx9o

Jhave and Scott talk about simulated worlds or environments created with AI, considering what are the boundaries for artifical life.

In this episode we are joined by co-authors Lillian-Yvonne Bertram and Nick Montfort to talk about their new publication Output: An Anthology of Computer Generated Text, 1953-2023. We learn about their path into digital poetry and the process of putting together this anthology.

References

Bertram, Lillian-Yvonne. 2019.Travesty generator. Noemi Press.

Bertram, Lillian-Yvonne and Nick Montfort. 2024.Output: An Anthology of Computer-Generated Text, 1953–2023. The MIT Press.

Gysin, Brion and Ian Sommerville. 1960.Permutation Poems.

H. Yngve, Victor. 1961.Random Sentences.

Knowles, Alison and James Tenney. 1967.The House of Dust.

Lutz, Theo. 1959.Stochastic Texts.

Montfort, Nick. 2017.The Truelist. Counterpath.

Montfort, Nick and Noah Wardrip-Fruin. 2003.The New Media Reader.

Nish-Lapidus, Matt. 2020.Work, Life, Balance.

Richardson, Leonard. 2013.Alice’s Adventures in the Whale.

Stiles, Sasha. 2021.Technelegy. The Black Spring Press Group.

Strachey, Christopher. 1953.Love Letters.

In this AI Update Jhave and Scott discuss O3, the new AI model announced by OpenAI, which excels in high-complexity tasks, demonstrating state-of-the-art capabilities in science, structured reasoning, and problem-solving.

In this episode, Alinta Krauth, new media artist, is joining Scott Rettberg for a discussion about her art and interspecies communication. Tune in now! 

Jhave and Scott discuss recent developments in AI and forecast new developments in AI storytelling, reasoning, efficiency, organoids, and medicine coming in 2025.

In this AI update, hosts Scott Rettberg and David Jhave Johnston dive deep into the connection between AI and violence. Tune in for the latest AI updates, and the last episode of the year. We will continue the season in the new year.

References

Calvo, Serena, et al. 2024. Does suicide contagion (Werther Effect) take place in response to social media? A systematic review. Spanish journal of psychiatry and mental health.

HBO Entertainment. 2011. Game of Thrones. HBO.

Lystad, Reidar P., Brown, Benjamin T. 2018. “Death is certain, the time is not”: mortality and survival in Game of Thrones. Inj. Epidemiol, (5)44. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40621-018-0174-7

Ree, Benjamin, [director]. 2024. “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin.” Netflix. 1 hr., and 24 min.

Ritchie, Hannah. 2024. “Australia approves social media ban on under-16s.” BBC News. Effective November 29, 2024, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89vjj0lxx9o

The New York Times. 2024. “Can A.I. be blamed for a teen's suicide?” The New York Times. Effective, October 23, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/23/technology/characterai-lawsuit-teensuicide.html

Weizenbaum, Joseph. 1967. ELIZA.

On today’s episode, recent PhD graduate, Marianne Gunderson, joins Scott for a discussion on creepypasta, fanfiction and monsters, and machine vision. Doctor Gunderson has started her postdoctoral research at the ALGOFOLK (algorithmic folklore) project connected to the Center for Digital Narrative.

References

Andam, Julie. 2015. Skam. NRK.

Atalaia, Nuno, and Marianne Gunderson. “Alexa’s Monstrous Agency: The Horror of the Digital Voice Assistant.” Not available in BORA awaiting publishing.

4Chan. 2003. “What is 4chan?” 4chan. https://4chan.org/.

Gunderson, Marianne. 2017. “What is an omega? Rewriting sex and gender in omegaverse fanfiction.” [Master's thesis]. DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.14405.47849.

Gunderson, Marianne. 2024. “The Nexus of Algorithmic Visions: Agency, Imaginaries, and the Self in Sociotechnical Situations.” [Doctoral thesis]. https://bora.uib.no/bora-xmlui/handle/11250/3161190.

In this short byweekly AI update, hosts Scott Rettberg and Jhave Johnston talk about the use of AI in filmmaking in places like Hollywood. While actors and writers fear AI could take over their jobs, its use in filmmaking is rapidly growing. 

Bateman, Justine. 2024. “Hollywood is dead, according to Justine Bateman. Here’s what comes next.” Fast Company. Effective November 2, 2024. https://www.fastcompany.com/91220089/hollywood-is-dead-according-to-justine-bateman-heres-what-comes-next. 

Gordon, Devin. 2024. “What if A.I. Is Actually Good for Hollywood?” The New York Times. Effective November 6, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/01/magazine/ai-hollywood-movies-cgi.html. 

Viggle. n. d. “Home.” Viggle AI. Accessed December 2, 2024. https://viggle.ai/home. 

Wonder Animation Studio. n. d. “Home.” Wonder Animation. Accessed December 2, 2024. https://wonderanimation.us/. 

Zemeckis, Robert, director. 2024. Here. Miramax. 1 hr., and 44 min. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18272208/.