AI Artistic Residency Program Announces Selected Projects

São Paulo, March 2025 – With more than eighty proposals received, the artificial intelligence artistic and research residency program for Brazilian researchers promoted by CloudWalk, a global financial technology company, has announced the three human-machine collaborative projects chosen by the selection committee. The projects will be developed over three months, during which the researchers will receive a monthly grant of R$10,000 and the computational resources necessary for their research.

Trippin’ Transformers: Inducing Artificially Altered States of Mind in Large Language Models

Rodrigo da Motta Cabral de Carvalho

It is well known that AI hallucinates, but do machines trip? This current project aims to artificially induce an altered state of consciousness (ASC)—such as those triggered by psychedelics like LSD—within Large Language Models (LLMs). By systematically prompting and fine-tuning the model with psychedelic-oriented data (i.e., ASC scientific questionnaires and Reddit trip report community), I aim to create a measurable shift in its internal processes and encoding capabilities (e.g., embedding representations). To confirm the presence and extent of this induced “psychedelic” state, I will rely on the entropic brain hypothesis, which is the leading hypothesis for ASC, stating that increased entropy, which represents the level of unpredictability of the system, in neural activity might be a biomarker of alterations in consciousness. To further the investigation, this work will compare the LLM with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the brain under LSD and placebo (already analyzed and freely available). Past research focused on investigating artificially altered states in artificial intelligence, but no work until this moment connected it to the entropic brain hypothesis.

Mycelial Orchestra: A Bio-Digital Work Guided by AI

Bruna Mattos Moraes Guimarães dos Santos

Mycelial Orchestra is an interactive art installation that merges fungi (mycelium) with generative AI algorithms to create real-time visual and soundscapes. However, its most distinctive feature is that the creator of the project does not know how to execute it. She sets out to learn everything—from fungal cultivation to AI programming—relying almost entirely on the instructions provided by artificial intelligence itself.

Mycelial Orchestra questions the role of technology as a mentor and the limits of remote instruction (AI providing knowledge) in the creation of a complex artistic work. In the end, the result may reflect both the beauty of an organic-digital orchestra and the vulnerability and resilience of the human learning process, entirely mediated by artificial intelligence. Could this be a path to overcoming our limitations? Or a reminder that co-creation with machines is, in itself, a new philosophical and artistic challenge? I hope this approach brings the essential brainfuck—blending bio-art, artificial intelligence, and the idea that humanity’s greatest uncertainty may also be our best bridge to the new.

Creativity In Vitro: An Interface for Imagination and the Petri Dish Artist

Lina Lopes and Eduardo Padilha

If a thought has never been verbalized, does it exist? And what if it could be materialized without passing through language?

Have you ever tried to recall the scent of a place you haven’t visited in years? Or heard an entire song play inside your head without the need for headphones? Our minds project entire worlds that never leave us. But what if they could? What if thoughts took shape without the need for hands, screens, or paint? What if imagination were a code that could be read and translated directly into visible matter? This is the challenge that fascinates me: transforming what happens inside my mind into something that can be experienced outside of it. To achieve this, I collaborate with the restless mind of scientist Eduardo Padilha, who helps me shape this experiment within the realm of possibility.

This project proposes the creation of an AI model capable of translating thoughts into images by reading brain waves. In a second phase, we explore the possibility of lab-grown neurons generating art autonomously, bringing forth reflections on creativity, consciousness, and the intersection between the human mind and biological systems.

According to Pedro Fonseca, head of AI policy at CloudWalk and coordinator of the residency program, not only the three selected projects, but a large portion of the proposals received had the potential to contribute to the broader discussion about the role of artificial intelligence in contemporary times and in speculations about the emerging future. "We received more than 80 proposals, very interesting and intriguing, ranging from the possibility of machine psychedelia to the intricate relationship between the human brain and artificial neural networks, including sexual relationships between humans and machines, philosophical discussions relating to artificial intelligence, and various other fascinating topics. We are very excited about the research to be developed by the new residents."

CloudWalk has a multidisciplinary team of more than sixty people focused on research and development based on intensive and comprehensive exploration of artificial intelligence models. According to Fonseca, the artistic and research residency was the way CloudWalk found to follow investigations that are not necessarily on the radar of their internal team and, at the same time, foster the work of Brazilian researchers in artificial intelligence.

The residency began on March 31 and continues until July, when the residents will publicly present the results of their research.

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