Autotelic Interaction Research

Being rewarding in and of themselves, autotelic (gr. autos - self, telos - end/goal) behaviours are key to lifelong cognitive development, underlie many forms of play and creativity, and have been linked to human well-being. We combine computational modelling, theoretical work, and empirical Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) studies to understand, reproduce, and foster autotelic behaviour. We approach this as an interdisciplinary team, bridging AI, HCI, Cognitive Science, and various application domains such as videogames and design. Our research contributes to the development of more adaptive, creative, playful, and open-ended AI; aims to foster richer and more meaningful interaction through insights into human-AI goal alignment; and yields artefacts and methods contributing to peoples' autotelic activities. Some examples of our research include:

• Computational models of intrinsic motivation
• Minimal models of creative cognition
• Methods for next-generation videogame AI
• User studies to support the sustainable adoption of co-creative AI

We are part of the Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence FCAI, the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT, and the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems ELLIS.

Alumni

Doctoral researchers

• Joel Oksanen
• Dee Carter
• Sebastian Berns

Master's thesis students

• Philip Müller (M.Sc., CS)
• Vertti Luostarinen (M.A., Art & Media)
• Julius Repo (M.A., Film)
• Veera Vimpari (MSc., CS)
• Inan Evin (MSc., CS)
• Ville Kopio (MSc., CS, Univ. of Helsinki)
• Xuehao Zhang (MSc., CS)
• Susanna Värtinen (MSc., CS)
• Antti Mäkipää (MSc., CS)

Research assistants

• Alex Ternar
• Joonas Lahikainen

Current research projects

• Autotelic Creative Artificial Intelligence (ACAI, Research Council of Finland)
• Social Intrinsic Motivation (Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation)
• Human Perception of Creative AI (AI-DOC)
• Artificial Curiosity and Creativity (HIIT)

Past research projects

• Next-Generation Computational Intrinsic Motivation (Research Council of Finland)

Come work with us!

We’re always interested in meeting curious, smart and ambitious people to work with. If you would like to do a Research Visit/Postdoc/PhD or your MSc thesis with us, please send an email to Christian with: 

1. Your study transcript incl. grades and scale; 

2. CV incl. examples of previous work; 

3. Short motivation incl. the research questions that excite you most, and how they connect with our work specifically. 

Unfortunately, we do not have time to respond to requests that do not include these materials. 

We also encourage you to check out Postdoc/PhD positions in our group advertised through the FCAI/HIIT bi-annual calls. If you are still looking for an inspiring MSc thesis topic, please also check out our current MSc topic offerings on the Aalto CS Wiki.

Diversity statement

We endeavour to be a safer, more equitable workplace that is inclusive of and celebrates different backgrounds, genders, ages, cultures, sexual orientations, neurodiversities, minority groups, and embodied experiences. We proactively work to be conscientious and improve our use of language. You can be your authentic self with us!