Welcome to the Creative AI Program
Expectations, responsibilities, and everything else needed to thrive in the AI program at Mars
This year’s Creative AI Program at Mars College is going into its fifth edition. Here’s what you need to know about expectations, responsibilities, and the fun we’ll have together.
Minimum Participation
To be considered part of the AI camp, everyone should:
Participate in Ideas Week (Jan 12–18).
Introduce yourself, give a lightning talk, and be generally present.
Contribute creative work for at least two of the three Moons of Mars shows (Jan, Feb, Mar) and for Mars Electronica.
Works can be digital (video, projection, code) or physical (installation, object) to go in the gallery.
Mars Electronica will include the AI Film Festival, a final gallery, and presentations.
Contributions should be new between shows, not recycled.
Host one AI-related event at some point in the semester.
Can be a workshop, screening, lecture, study group, show, or even a creative excursion. Fairly open-ended.
Ideally scheduled in the first half of the term (before Feb 15).
Do basic chores like helping clean Chiba, a shift in the noodle bar or Mimos café, or, if qualified, some skilled maintenance work.
Benefits
Being part of the AI program comes with:
A compute grant on Eden.art to run your experiments.
Access to Chiba space (screens, materials budget).
Some limited housing options and potential preferential access to Saturn coworking.
Eligibility for the AI Camp Living-Coop.
And of course: the chance to cosplay your desert cyberpunk fantasies, focus on your projects, and satisfy the Building Requirement for Mars College.
Why We’re Excited
The Creative AI Program has always been about pushing the frontier while staying rooted in practice. This year, we’re expanding into:
A planned game development track and study of world models (the simulation is closer than you think).
A structured AI class covering LLMs, and personal and collective agents.
Community-driven workshops and experiments that lead up to Mars Electronica, our final showcase.
FAQ
What’s the time commitment? Can I do this on the side of my regular job?
While it is possible and encouraged to immerse yourself in Mars activity, it is perfectly feasible and acceptable to participate while keeping your pre-existing commitments. The minimum requirements for Mars are not full-time work, and concentrate around special times (ideas week, moon shows, and Mars Electronica).
How much do I have to know about AI going into this?
Absolutely no prior knowledge is needed, just a genuine willingness to try new things. The AI program is not “about AI” so much as it is about how to use AI to expand your understanding of the things you already know and care about.
Why is AI relevant to our life in the desert?
Off-grid living is not just about a specific lifestyle in a particular place like Mars. It’s an ethos to look at a new technology which is mass-produced to us — electricity in the 19th century, automobiles in the 20th century, etc—and figure out how to de-urbanize and reclaim it as a tool of personal living. AI is the latest such technology, and like the ones that came before it, its future uses are not
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