Brian Magerko

Georgia Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University

Papers

Total Citations

160

H-Index

About

Brian Magerko is a leading researcher in computational creativity and human-AI co-creation, with a focus on how artificial agents can collaborate with humans in improvisational and artistic contexts. His work bridges artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and the performing arts to develop models of creative interaction. Magerko's most influential contribution is the enactive model of creativity, which frames creativity as an embodied, real-time process of sense-making rather than a purely cognitive one—a framework detailed in his highly cited 2015 paper (79 citations). He pioneered the use of drama and comedy improvisation to build believable agents, as demonstrated in his foundational work "Robot improv" (61 citations), which showed that acting principles can create more natural, engaging AI behavior than traditional emotion simulations. More recently, Magerko has explored how different interaction modalities—human-human, human-robot, and human-software—affect perceptions of co-creativity in systems like Drawcto (2024, 11 citations). His research on turn-taking in improvisational dance-based interactions (2017, 9 citations) further extends his impact, making him a key figure in developing AI that can genuinely share creative control with humans.